Doctors are hard to find on VanIsle. Hell, they’re hard to find in BC. And the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) says about 1,200 of them could retire in the next 12 years.
Lots of docs have already left their practices.
That has left some folks on VanIsle in a sticky spot. Their family doc has moved on, but they still need care from specialists.
Here is some important info, though: if your doctor left, you can still see your specialist.
BC doctor Kevin Mcleod took to Twitter to clear this up:
So just because you’ve lost your doctor doesn’t mean you’ve also lost your specialist. Your specialist can still use this code to make sure you get care and they get paid.
You still need to keep track of how long it’s been since you last saw your specialist. Referrals are normally good for a year. And it gets harder to see that specialist without a referral if you haven’t seen them in more than six months.
That doesn’t totally solve the problem for the 1 million British Columbians who don’t have a doctor.
But it’s all part of the same crisis.
