P.E.I. man urges province to stop 'line-jumpers' on patient registry

A Cornwall resident wants the province to put a stop to what he calls "line-jumpers" on the provincial patient registry.

David Bulger, who has been on the registry for 18 months, said it's supposed to be first come first served, but that's not how it actually works — some are able to skip the line because of who they know.

"I have some degree of hesitation in saying this, but this is the Island. Your friends are likely to do things for you, and if you don't have friends like that, then you may be out of luck," he said.

It turns us into a bunch of rats scrambling for whatever pieces of flotsam we can find before the ship sinks.— David Bulger

"And I mean friends who know doctors, doctors who might be your friends, et cetera."

Bulger has been going to a walk-in clinic while he waits, but said the clinics often don't do annual physicals or blood work.

He emailed Health Minister Robert Henderson to find out why doctors are permitted to take on patients on the registry ahead of others. The response, according to Bulger, is that it's intended to maintain physician independence.

But Bulger argues that he pays the salaries of those physicians through taxes, so they should have to take patients who are first in line on the registry.

Without controls, Bulger said, the current system is unfair.

"It turns us into a bunch of rats scrambling for whatever pieces of flotsam we can find before the ship sinks, competing in effect with other people in an attempt to find a physician."

Patients and doctors free to choose

The manager of the provincial patient registry with Health PEI, Anita MacKenzie, says people on the registry are free to look for a doctor or nurse practitioner on their own. And doctors are free to accept those patients.

"If you have family members who have a family physician, sometimes they'll ask them if they'll take on your aunt, your uncle, whoever. And physicians may choose to do that as a favour to their patient." said MacKenzie.

"Some physicians will, some physicians won't. Some physicians will say my practice is full and I'm not taking on any more. People do have the right to do that." 

MacKenzie admits the registry isn't perfect, because sometimes people have to wait to get a doctor or nurse practitioner. But she says it is a fair and equitable way for people to be assigned a primary care provider. 

The province says there are about 8,100 Islanders on the patient registry, and 600 of those are people who have a family physician but are looking for a new doctor.