B.C. walk-in clinics have longest wait times in Canada: report
Posted December 11, 2019 8:29 am.
Last Updated December 11, 2019 3:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It seems cities in British Columbia are the worst in the country for wait times at walk-in medical clinics.
A report from Medimap finds seven of the top 10 cities for high wait times are in B.C.. Vancouver Island’s Sidney came in as the very worst in Canada with an average wait of three hours.
“Within the province, we found there are wide variations,” Blake Adam, co-founder and CEO of Medimap, says. “Some of the communities that have longer waits, for example, Sidney, Langford, Victoria, even Maple Ridge – in these communities you can expect to wait over an hour and a half when you go to a clinic. Compared to communities like West Kelowna, Delta, Richmond, [where it’s] closer to an average of 20 minutes when you go to a walk-in clinic to see a doctor.”
Overall, the index shows British Columbians experience double the wait time — an average 50 minutes — compared to people in Alberta, and Vancouver hits right at the average provincial rate.
In Alberta, Medimap found the average wait is only 25 minutes and in Ontario 26 minutes. The average for the whole country was a 31 minute wait.
The report also shows only 42 per cent of Canadians saw a doctor on the same day or the following day the last time they needed medical care.
Medimap was founded in 2015 and this is the first year it has compiled a full annual report, but the company plans to do one every year.
Health Minister: we are taking action
B.C.’s health minister Adrian Dix says the province is taking action on the issue, pointing to the new urgent and primary care centres introduced since forming government.
“What have we done in a very short period of time, 14 new urgent and primary care centers, including in some of the places that are listed in the report […] we have established 17 new primary care networks and are working in communities like Sydney with local divisions of fine family practice to improve within existing doctors offices,” he says.
“You don’t go from having a lot of people waiting for a family doctor and nurse practitioner to none in a short period of time – you have to do the work. And I think the evidence is we’re doing the work. What this says is, we’re right to focus on primary care.”
He noted the primary care networks being established across the province to support existing practitioners, and that replacing retiring professionals was a significant issue.
– With files from Liza Yuzda
