Family doctors need more support, experts say, after online database closes

The shortage of doctors in British Columbia is again in the spotlight, after the College of Physicians and Surgeons announced it was shutting down its online database of doctors accepting new patients.

The database, a directory of available doctors — a tool to connect patients with a family doctor if they didn't have one — was discontinued earlier this month.

Doctors of B.C. president Dr. Trina Larsen Soles says closing the database is a "red herring" that is drawing attention away from the main issue: the database struggled because there are too few doctors available.  

"They are not running it, because it's not effective. But the bigger question is: do we have enough doctors and how do we attach ourselves to them?" she told Stephen Quinn, the host of CBC's The Early Edition.

A big part of the problem is that there are simply not enough family doctors in B.C., Soles said.

Se says the way in which doctors set up practices has also moved away from the traditional solo practitioner or family GP, to groups of physicians working collectively within a community of patients.

"Young graduates want to work in groups. They want the support of working with other doctors and working with other team members," Soles said.

Setting up a solo business in places like Vancouver or Victoria, where the cost of rent is astronomical, just simply isn't feasible or appealing to many doctors, she added.

Attracting doctors to the job

Soles has always worked as part of a team of doctors. 

In her case, there are several doctors working together with patients as well as nurse practitioners to deal with specific issues like diabetes or heart disease.

"That collaborative model, I think, does improve access and that's what we are trying to do provincially," Soles said. "But to do that, you need some help with infrastructure and you need help with funding."

Dr. Rita McCracken, a family physician and PhD candidate researching primary care clinics, says the issue isn't just a shortage of doctors — it's about attracting doctors to the necessary jobs. 

"One of the things we have failed to look at is why we don't have more capacity given that we are graduating more and more family doctors over the last 10 years," she told Michelle Eliot, the host of CBC's B.C. Almanac. 

McCracken said it's partly because the structure of the classic GP job hasn't evolved alongside everything else in society in the past few decades.

Medical graduates want jobs with more flexible hours, team-based environments and better access to colleagues with specialized knowledge, she explained.  

"To me, it seems obvious that we should also be looking to add job structures that are going to be more attractive to this pool of graduates," she said. 

With files from The Early Edition and B.C. Almanac.