Kamloops doctor shortage not as dire as it seems
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Firstly, I want to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to the physicians and staff at Summit Medical Clinic, who have provided great service to our community for so many years.
I also want to express my gratitude for all the hard work and dedication of so many people and organizations to help improve and fix problems with access to great health care in Kamloops and our province. One success has been the UBC Family Practice Residency Program expansion with a site here in Kamloops that opened in 2014. Of the 18 new family physicians who have completed our local program, nine are still living and working in Kamloops and our region. This is a 50 per cent retention rate, which exceeds the retention rate of most training sites. All 18 have worked within Interior Health in various roles/communities. I think this speaks highly of Kamloops and our community. An added bonus has been the number of young physicians, both family physicians and specialists from across the country, who have moved to Kamloops in part because of the increasing attractiveness of working here with new facilities, the UBC undergraduate and post-graduate programs, and many other exciting initiatives and positive change.
I maintain that in looking at the number of family physicians (FP) and general practitioners (GP) who live and work in Kamloops, we may not have a FP/GP physician shortage. FPs and GPs can work in many settings as mentioned in the article, and many of these workplaces here in Kamloops provide attractive alternatives to traditional FP/GP offices.
It is my view that this is a complex issue and I know many people/organizations are working hard to ensure appropriate supports are in place or being built for FP/GPs and now Nurse Practitioners (NP) so that we can provide great care for everyone in our area. It may not have made the news, but there are quite a few new family docs who have opened practices over the past few years, and both the new Sun Peaks and Orchards Walk Clinic have been seeing new patients. In addition, our new Family Practice Learning Centre is also seeing new patients, while continuing the important work of training the new generation of family physicians and health providers. Please note that many new clinics/offices use the 811 service to book new patient appointments, so you may want to call 811 and get on the list if you want an NP or FP rather than call clinics directly.
