A crisis in care: CBC series examines Victoria's family doctor shortage

Patients in the greater Victoria area are increasingly frustrated by a lack of family doctors.

Over the past year, at least three doctors have left urgent and primary care centres and three clinics have closed, leaving hundreds of people without primary care.

According to the B.C. College of Family Physicians, only 80 per cent of residents in the Capital Regional District have one, compared to 84 per cent of people provincewide, while a report from theCanadian tech companyMedimapfound Victoria walk-in clinics havethe longest wait time in the country, at more than2 hours.

CBC Victoria dove into the reasons behind this crisis, its impacts and some possible solutions in a special weeklong series, A Crisis in Care: The Family Doctor Shortage in Greater Victoria,which you can find in the segments below.

Why fee-for-service makes it hard to be a family doctor

CBCOn the Islandhost Gregor Craigie speaks to story producer Jean Paetkau aboutthe challenges of being a family doctor under the fee-for-service system.

What happens when you lose your family doctor?

Camille Currie is one of thousands of people who lost their family doctor when two physicians left the Eagle Creek Clinic in View Royal. The experience prompted her to become anadvocate and create the B.C. Health Care Matters Facebook page and website. She speaks toAll Points Westhost Robyn Burns.

The origins of the family doctor crisis

CBC Victoria's Deborah Wilson looksinto the factors that have led to the current doctor shortage on Vancouver Island, and B.C. as a whole.

Navigating cancer treatment without a family doctor

Joy Williamson has been searching for a family doctor for eight years. In December of 2020, she found a lump in her breast. She believes not having a family doctor delayed her cancer diagnosis. Hear Williamson's story, and that of listeners who have shared about not having access to a family doctor.

A nurse who can't get a doctor

Brenda Erven is a nurse and single mother who lives in Victoria. Shortly after losing her family doctor two years ago she developed a serious health condition. She now has to manage her condition and prescriptions through walk-in clinics and the ER.

Do medical students want to be family doctors?

Sofia Kennedy is a first-year medical student who livesin Victoria and Caitlin Blewett is a fourth-year medical studentin Cowichan territory in Duncan. They sharetheir perspective on why new doctors may not want to go into family medicine.

Nurse practitioners: Here to help

CBC's Kathryn Marlow looks into the role nurse practitioners could play in helping alleviate the strain on family doctors and some of the obstacles in their way.

Health Minister Adrian Dix responds

B.C.'s Minister of Health responds to questions raised by listeners in response to the family doctor crisis.

Panel: How to solve the family doctor crisis

On the Islandhost Gregor Craigie hosts a special hour-long discussion on the family doctor crisis with George Abbot, B.C.'s minister of health from 2005 to 2009, Renee Fernandez, executive director of B.C. Family Doctors and Adam Olsen, the Green Party MLA for Saanich North and the Islands.