There are family doctors in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows who need patients – the reverse situation from most of the province, where communities are desperate to attract doctors.
The Ridge Meadows Division of Family Practice supports local doctors, and leads the recruiting effort. There were 17 doctors listed as accepting patients in Ridge Meadows on the division’s “Find a Doctor” web page, as of Jan. 27. Patients can have their pick.
Other nearby communities are not so fortunate – the divisions in Langley and Chilliwack refer patients seeking a doctor to a wait list, as does the division for Fraser Northwest – Coquitlam, New Westminster and other communities.
In 2014, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows had 16,000 people with no family doctor, about 17 per cent of the population at that time, and the division embraced “A GP for Me” as a health initiative to connect patients to family physicians, and begin physician recruitment.
They have such success that division executive director Treena Innes was recently asked by the health ministry to speak on Vancouver Island about physician recruitment and retention.
“Our committee has been extra good at landing physicians,” said Innes. “It’s been that secret sauce of our community rallying around health care.”
She said the division’s Red Carpet Program rolls out a charm campaign for physicians considering Maple Ridge.
“To start, we pick them up at the airport,” she said.
They show them around the community, highlighting the parks and school programs, they offer assistance in finding housing and daycare, and promote the benefits of living here. They meet local doctors, and Innes said the peer-to-peer relationships are a powerful part of the recruitment.
“We have been fortunate in our efforts here at Ridge Meadows in bringing physicians looking for a rewarding career and a great place to call home,” Dr. Somabia Ibrar, the recruitment physician lead.
“The area offers a wonderful blend of professional opportunity and personal fulfillment for family physicians moving to the community with their families.”
“Our division is dedicated to helping physicians thrive, both in and out of practice. We prioritize their well-being and quality of life, providing access to family-friendly resources and community connections, whilst also supporting them in building their practice and becoming a valued part of our community.”
They are having a lot of success recruiting doctors from the UK, who leave in favour of a better work-life balance than is offered in their home country, explained Innes. English doctors complain of burnout and being overworked. In December, there was a picket line of doctors in south Oxford, and the headline on the BBC story about he walkout was ‘Sleep-deprived, overworked and doctors deserve more.’
Many leave the country for Australia, but Innes and her team have attracted many to Ridge Meadows as well.
Tracy Elke, a Pitt Meadows city councillor who works for the Doctors of B.C., said Ridge Meadows is in an enviable position that is rare around the province, and gives credit to the local division for leading recruitment.
However she believes there is no lack of patients needing a family doctor in Ridge Meadows, but a lack of awareness that a family doctor is available.
“A lot of us assume the problem (a lack of family physicians) still exists here,” said Elke.
Innes agreed connecting patients to family doctors is the new challenge. Patients who have a family doctor generally receive “much better” health care, she said.
“We recruited them here, and now they’re saying ‘Where are the patients you promised us?’”