BC Family Doctors have launched a new campaign to highlight the inequities in rural healthcare.
Fair Care Everywhere is meant to shine a spotlight on the urgent challenges faced by doctors working in rural B.C. A release Monday (Jan. 13) from BC Family Doctors says a rural doctor is a "one-stop-shop, delivering babies, driving hours to reach patients, managing life-threatening emergencies and providing end-of-life care, all without the support or resources available in urban centres."
The campaign calls for actions to address inequities that are putting rural communities at risk, including equitable compensation for rural primary care doctors, more health-care staff and better transportation options for rural patients.
Doctors of BC president Charlene Lui said family doctors and their specialist colleagues in rural B.C. are under immense pressure, which she said then in turns impacts the rest of the health-care system.
B次元官网网址淔inding solutions to rural physician retention is a key step to providing better healthcare for rural British Columbians, which will have a trickle-down effect for patients and all health care providers."
says that in rural B.C., patients often face overwhelming challenges just to access essential healthcare.
"Many endure long travel times, and some go without care entirely. These inequities arenB次元官网网址檛 just inconvenientB次元官网网址攖heyB次元官网网址檙e a crisis threatening the sustainability of communities that fuel our economy through industries like forestry, mining and tourism," it reads.
It lists the problems as emergency room closures and long waits for primary care, chronic staffing shortages leading to burnout among physicians and other healthcare workers and inadequate patient transportation and the loss of doctors to urban migration.
However, it says the solutions would be: increasing health-care staffing to reduce wait times and prevent burnout; investing in reliable transportation systems for patients to access care; and providing fair pay for rural doctors to attract and retain health-care professionals.
Sunshine Coast Dr. Karen Forgie, who has been a rural family physician for 33 years, said it's a tough job, but their communities rely on them.
B次元官网网址淚n rural communities, we do it all B次元官网网址� we deliver babies even when thereB次元官网网址檚 no neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), handle emergencies and care for patients with serious conditions using whatever resources we have."