Whereas there is limited access to timely specialized medical care in rural British Columbia, creating extended patient wait times, which results in prolonged and worsening medical conditions that are often more quickly resolved in large urban centres: Therefore be it resolved that the Province be lobbied to more effectively retain medical specialists and services in rural British Columbia.
Ministry of Health Government is committed to meeting the health needs of BC Citizens living in rural BC; one aspect of which is ensuring there is timely and appropriate access to medical specialists. We have launched a new primary care strategy to establish an integrated, team-based primary and community care system that effectively meets the comprehensive primary health care needs of patients and populations across BC. By bringing together teams of family doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, and other health care professionals, we can better address everyday health challenges and support long-term health needs. Team-based care has been shown to reduce hospitalizations and physician visits, reduce duplication of services, streamline care, improve outcomes for patients with chronic diseases, and increase the efficiency and sustainability of the health system. Team-based care also benefits providers by improving efficiencies in care and preventing burnout through better work-life balance. This helps to retain existing providers and attract new ones to practice. In this model of care, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined to support providers to work to their optimal scope of practice and align with their strengths. Primary Care Networks PCN are being established throughout the province to provide quality team-based primary care services within a defined geographic area. A PCN is a network of primary care services in a defined geographic area that are linked to each other. PCNs include patient medical homes PMHs, urgent and primary care centres UPCCs, community health centres, and other primary care clinics and models. The first 14 team-based primary care networks are being established in the Fraser northwest, Burnaby, South Okanagan Similkameen, Prince George, Richmond, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. - Fraser northwest Four networks will recruit up to 65 health-care providers over three years: Port Coquitlam; North Coquitlam and Port MoodyAnmoreBelcarra; New Westminster; and Southwest and Southeast Coquitlam. - Burnaby Three networks and one urgent and primary care centre will recruit 68 health-care providers over three years: BrentwoodHastings; Edmonds; and Metrotown. - South Okanagan Similkameen 22 health-care providers over three years - Prince George 29 health-care providers over three years - Richmond Three networks will recruit up to 70 health-care providers over three years: Richmond West; Richmond City Centre; and Richmond East. - Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows Two networks will hire 45 FTE health-care providers and staff, including one part-time Elder-in-care and a part-time nurse practitioner to support the Katize First Nations. Work is underway to launch additional primary care networks provincewide. Urgent Primary Care Centres UPCCs are an important part of our Primary Care Strategy and the implementation of team-based care. UPCCs provide urgent care to patients for ailments and issues that may not require emergency services but do require attention within 12 to 24 hours. They also serve as temporary primary care clinics for people who do not have a regular primary care provider and will work to connect them to a primary care clinic as space is available. Weve opened 12 urgent and primary care centres and announced two more to provide increased access to team-based care, including evenings, weekends, and holidays for people in: Kamloops, Quesnel, Westshore, Surrey, Downtown Vancouver, Prince George, Edmonds, Nanaimo, East Vancouver, North Vancouver, Kelowna, Ridge Meadows, Vernon and James Bay. Were also replacing aging hospitals and building new ones in many of BCs growing communities so more people can access quality care. Our government has approved 13 major health capital projects. - Were building new patient care towers in Richmond, North Vancouver and Kamloops. - Were building new hospitals for people in Surrey, Terrace, Cowichan Valley and Fort St. James, and a redeveloped expanded hospital in Dawson Creek. - Weve started construction on new emergency departments at Peace Arch Hospital in South Surrey, Eagle Ridge in the Tri-Cities, as well as an expanded emergency department at Langley Memorial. - Were building a new intensive care unit in Nanaimo, replacing by far one of the worst ICUs in Canada that the old government knew about since 2013. These investments all help to attract and retain health care professionals. We are also working to find creative solutions like virtual care to meet British Columbians health-care needs in rural and remote communities. We brought in more paramedics and ambulances for the Interior, North and Vancouver Island. Community paramedics have been introduced in 99 rural BC communities to improve patient care, help bridge health-service delivery gaps and stabilize paramedic staffing levels. Other strategies presently used include: Health Match BC - The Ministry funds Health Match BC HMBC as the provincial recruitment agency focused on sourcing, engaging, and connecting health professionals with communities and employers in BC. - Communities experiencing recruitment challenges are encouraged to work closely with their regional health authority as they have dedicated recruiters collaborating with HMBC to recruit physicians, nurses and other health professionals. Practice Ready Assessment-BC Program PRA-BC - The PRA-BC is a program for internationally-educated family physicians who have completed residencies in Family Medicine outside of Canada. The program provides a pathway for these physicians to become licensed to practise in BC in exchange for a commitment to practice in rural communities throughout the province. - PRA-BC assesses up to 30 family physicians each year. All candidates must pass a rigorous assessment process to ensure they meet the standards of practice in the province before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC grants them a license to practice in BC. International Medical Graduate Return of Service Program IMG ROS: - As part of the University of British Columbia Postgraduate Medical Education UBC PGME expansion, the number of entry-level residency positions for IMGs has increased from six positions to 58 or 52 Family Medicine positions and six specialist positions. - Upon graduation, UBC Family Medicine IMGs must complete a two-year Return of Service ROS in a designated community of need in BC immediately after residency training; and six IMG specialists must complete a three-year ROS in BC upon graduation. - As of August 22, 2019, 276 family physicians and 44 specialists have been placed throughout BC in 74 communities. - The Northern Health Authority has identified Burns Lake as a community of need for the 2020 ROS placement cycle. Northern and Isolation Travel Assistance Outreach Program - The program provides funding for visiting specialists to travel to rural areas, including Burns Lake, where specialist services would otherwise not be available. - The program currently provides funding for the following specialties in Burns Lake: obstetrics and gynaecology, endoscopy, geriatric internal medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and physiatry. Rural Physician Programs: - The Ministry of Health and the Doctors of BCs Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues manages a series of incentive programs to recruit, retain and educate rural physicians provincewide. In doing so, Physicians are supported to work in rural communities across the Province Loan Forgiveness - The BC Loan Forgiveness Program LFP is administered by the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training AEST through StudentAid BC. It provides financial incentive for select health-related occupations by providing loan forgiveness for eligible participants working in underserved communities in BC including Burns Lake. Distributed Learning - Government has developed a distributed learning approach to physician education and increased the number of residency spots available in the province. The intent in doing so is to increase the ability for physicians to be trained and placed during their residency placements in different communities across the province. - Government has invested in rural and remote training of allied health professionals, such as occupational therapists OTs, physiotherapists PTs and sonographers through funds from the 2019 budget: o OT: Program expansion of 8 seats is planned for September 2020 for UBCs Point Grey campus. An additional 16 seats will commence in September 2022 in partnership with University of Northern British Columbia with a total of 72 seats at full expansion. o PT: Expansion of the current UBC program through a partnership with UNBC to create seats in the North first intake of 20 students in September 2020 and further expansion to the Fraser Valley 20 seats by September 2022 will result in 120 seats in total being offered annually. o Sonography: The Ministry of Health worked with Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training to expand sonography training capacity at both CNC and BCIT through funds from the 2019 budget. CNC launched their program in January 2019 with 8 seats and will offer 16 seats in September 2019. BCIT is funded to add 8 seats to their base of 32 in 20192020 and funded to add an additional 8 seats in 202021 to equal 48 seats in total; this equates to 64 seats being offered in total annually. Also a new sonography program at Camosun College was recently announced, to start in May 2020 with a cohort of 16 students In addition to the above, government has also made significant investments in capital upgrades to health authority facilities, embraced team-based care and expanded the use of nursing and allied providers. In doing so, Specialists have access to improved physical infrastructure and team based care supports to expand their ability to provide care in rural communities. Government has also supported investment in virtual care to improve access to specialists. Examples include tele-pediatric care, which allows BC Childrens Hospital to assess children in rural communities through real time, two-way videoconferencing; and, BC Womens Hospitals Complex Chronic Diseases Program and BC Cancer-Victoria which both offer patients the opportunity to attend appointments virtually. Lastly, the government provides the Travel Assistance Program, Out of Province and Out of Country Travel so that BC Citizens residing in rural BC have assistance in accessing specialist care. In doing so, rural residents have access to financial support to access services when they are not directly available in their home communities. By utilizing a multi-pronged approach Government is working to ensure citizens living in rural BC have access to the medical professionals they need.