We're medical specialists, and see a side of the family doctor shortage you should know

This column is an opinion by Dr. Shaina Goudie, a St. John's rheumatologist, and Dr. Boluwaji Ogunyemi, a St. John's dermatologist. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

Newfoundland and Labrador's health-care crisis has been in the spotlight over the past several months, from an exodus of family physicians leaving the province to the medical association's suspension of contract negotiations with the provincial government.

It is an unfortunate reality that almost 100,000 patients in our province do not have a family physician.

We would guess that even more do not have access to a stable and consistent family physician because of the high turnover of physicians in some rural areas.

The lack of continuity in those instances is almost as difficult as having no one at all.

Family doctors here are beyond capacity, stretched in every direction, and the consequence is that their patients may not have as ready access to them as in years past.

As many practices already see more patients than they can manage, this results in some patients having to wait several weeks just to get an appointment with their family doctor.

As specialist physicians, we cannot be silent on this issue.

Knowing our family medicine colleagues do not have sufficient support — and the people of our province do not have access to the care they deserve — is something for which we must offer our voice. We see ourselves as allies for family doctors and want to help shed light on this dire shortage and the inequity it creates, especially in rural parts of the province.

We also must speak out about the trickle-down effect that the lack of family physicians has on the care patients are able to receive from specialists.

A family physician shortage can cause a bottleneck on specialty services. In an ideal situation, a specialist would complete a consultation and then return the patient when appropriate to the family doctor for ongoing management, with a clear plan in place.

When there is no family doctor to return the patient to, how do you discharge a patient with their care plan?

The short answer is we often don't.

Many of us continue to follow patients that we typically wouldn't otherwise, because following up with a family doctor is impossible for one in five residents of this province. This limits our capacity to bring other patients into specialty practices — and thus reduce their wait times.