WHEREAS health care services, specifically small rural medical clinics are important to its patients, some of which are seniors unable to drive or travel long distances; AND WHEREAS it is important to support the health care in small rural areas of British Columbia: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities petition the Minister to take the necessary action to ensure that doctors and other medical services are adequately provided to all residents in every community of British Columbia.
Ministry of Health Services The Ministry of Health Services the Ministry provides standards of access to the health authorities, to guide decision making about where services are to be located. Part of these standards state that emergency services must be available to 98 percent of a health region within a one hour drive. The health authorities have strived to achieve this target, and in most cases have been successful even in rural areas. When a gap exists, government and health authorities have worked closely together to improve the access to service for residents. The Attachment Initiative ensures that every British Columbian can be attached to a family physician by 2015. Research has shown that attachment to a particular family doctor results in better patient care, and also costs the health system considerably less than comparable patients, especially those with several chronic diseases. Divisions of Family Practice affiliations of family physicians with common health care goals andor practices in the same geographic area. As of August 31, 2010, fourteen incorporated Divisions of Family Practice are fully underway. Additional investments have been made to assist and support rural and remote family doctors to establish Divisions of Family Practices. Transition of the Emergency Health Service Commission to Provincial Health Services Authority this will align ambulance services more closely with our health-care system and allow the province to explore more innovative ways to enhance the role of paramedics in serving the needs of patients, particularly in rural and remote communities. In April 2009, 20 million in new funding was provided to continue developing new initiatives to further expand and develop programs to assist rural communities to recruit and retain physicians. The Ministry is also supporting recruitment of health professionals for rural communities through additional programs such as the Provincial Nominee Program and Health Match BC. Since 2003, the GP Services Committee and the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues have introduced a number of initiatives to promote recruitment and retention of BCs family physicians: - Full Service Family Practice Incentive Program and the Practice Support Program - Family Physicians for BC - Maternity Care For BC - Rural Retention Program - Rural Isolation Allowance Program - Rural Recruitment Incentive Program - Rural Recruitment Contingency Fund - Rural GP Locum Program - Rural Specialist Locum Program - Rural Continuing Medical Education Program - Rural Education Action Plan - Northern Isolation Travel Assistance Outreach Program Government programs and initiatives, in combination with the hard work done by many stakeholders in the BC health care system, have yielded positive results: - Between 2005 and 2009 the number of physicians practicing in rural BC communities has grown by 30 percent. During the same time the overall provincial population has grown by 6 percent. - In 2009, the Society of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada reported that BC has one of the best supplies of rural physicians in the country: there is one GP for 874 rural people, compared to the Canadian average of one GP for 1153 rural people.