The health care system in B.C. is undergoing waves of resignations, adding onto Interior Health’s rapidly-shrinking number of doctors.
While recruitment efforts are already underway to fill these shortages, these vacancies still prove that B.C.’s health care system is facing a troubling future if they continue.
Resigning Doctors In The B.C. Health Care System
This month, seven doctors under the Interior Health Authority at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, B.C. resigned. These doctors– specifically obstetrician gynecologists (OB-GYNs)– cited their reasons for resigning as due to “extreme physician burnout” among a slew of other reasons.
While they previously named workload issues and the inability to recruit more physicians, they have since added additional reasons. In a media statement issued on October 20, the group of OB-GYNs stated that they were concerned about simultaneous call and surgical shifts, recruitment struggles, as well as unbalanced time allotment for obstetrical work that leaves them with none for gynaecological work. All of this has also added to the physician burnout that they cited.
The doctors make up the entire department at Royal Inland Hospital, said Dr. Mark Masterson, Interior Health vice-president of medicine. He has assured the public that the hospital will not change their obstetric or gynecological services.
Fixing The Shortage?
Since these doctors have resigned, there has been another wave of physicians resigning within Interior Health. As four doctors from Vernon, B.C. step away from their hospital, worry grows amongst the patient population as B.C.’s physician shortage surges.
While the Province has put efforts into recruiting more workers– quite notably from the U.S.– but not everyone thinks that this is a cure-all to the progressing problem in B.C.
BC Family Doctors, a B.C. health care advocacy group, notes a number of potential solutions that the Province should focus their efforts on. From cutting red tape, making it easier for internationally-trained doctors to work, and supporting current doctors in the system, these are all ways that experts say B.C. can retain and grow its health care workforce.
