Community Health Centres are created by not-for-profit organizations or co-operatives to deliver integrated services and programs that reflect their communities’ needs and priorities.
I think we’ve seen enough Public Private Partnerships - BC Ferries, Air Canada, Translink - to know how that’s going to go.
How about we tax the rich fucks a little more so it’s like their favourite era just a bit more, and use the massive windfall to fund actual medical schools and dorms on hospital grounds, and make the medical profession something people want to risk getting into.
BC already has a few community health centers already (always pilot programs that succeeded but were never expanded).
They are actually non-profits - the idea is that they can focus on hiring experts for their specific area. So for an area with lots of physical labourers the center might offer physiotherapy, while an area with drug addiction might specialize in that support.
They’re super desirable to work at for family physicians. Right now in BC to be a family doctor you essentially also have to run your own business, handle payroll, handle billing MSP, etc. Vacations are a pain to take - what if a patient needs to see you? With these centers the doctors can focus more on patient care and less on administration.
One recommendation in the report which I pushed for but only got as one sentence is to allow family doctors to supervise nurses as physician assistants and let them handle more basic care. Basically in the same way that a dentist has dental hygienists to handle cleaning or an engineering firm uses junior engineers under supervision, a doctor could use nurses to investigate symptoms and handle basic care, and then bring up items with the doctor. I know that’s initially concerning from a patient perspective (“I won’t see my doctor directly as much”) but right now a huge proportion of people in BC can’t get a doctor at all, and this seems like a more immediate way to expand care versus some of the other recommendations that will have more marginal improvements (like better document keeping methods).
They’re super desirable to work at for family physicians. Right now in BC to be a family doctor you essentially also have to run your own business, handle payroll, handle billing MSP, etc. Vacations are a pain to take - what if a patient needs to see you? With these centers the doctors can focus more on patient care and less on administration.
This is a really big point, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve heard from those in medical school for why they might not want family med. It’s a whole other headache running your own practice. Shared practices are an improvement, but that’s still overhead that could be managed by the province / health authority. The province can also negotiate better prices for things like supplies, utilities, internet, etc.
Also you might already know about it, but if not, we have [email protected] . Would love to see you around, and I think you’d make a decent moderator if that’s something you’re interested in. It’s hard finding people who have experience with the medical system in Canada.
I should clarify I’m not in medicine. The panel was formed by a random sample of British Columbians and then we talked with different experts, but we ourselves aren’t experts or meant to be experts.
That’s ok, I’m also not a physician myself. I think it also helps to have community members involved in the healthcare system be a part of the community!
Just feel free to contribute as much as you like, we’re happy to have you :)
I think we’ve seen enough Public Private Partnerships - BC Ferries, Air Canada, Translink - to know how that’s going to go.
How about we tax the rich fucks a little more so it’s like their favourite era just a bit more, and use the massive windfall to fund actual medical schools and dorms on hospital grounds, and make the medical profession something people want to risk getting into.
I was actually on this panel! A few things:
One recommendation in the report which I pushed for but only got as one sentence is to allow family doctors to supervise nurses as physician assistants and let them handle more basic care. Basically in the same way that a dentist has dental hygienists to handle cleaning or an engineering firm uses junior engineers under supervision, a doctor could use nurses to investigate symptoms and handle basic care, and then bring up items with the doctor. I know that’s initially concerning from a patient perspective (“I won’t see my doctor directly as much”) but right now a huge proportion of people in BC can’t get a doctor at all, and this seems like a more immediate way to expand care versus some of the other recommendations that will have more marginal improvements (like better document keeping methods).
That’s super cool, thanks for writing it up!
This is a really big point, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve heard from those in medical school for why they might not want family med. It’s a whole other headache running your own practice. Shared practices are an improvement, but that’s still overhead that could be managed by the province / health authority. The province can also negotiate better prices for things like supplies, utilities, internet, etc.
Also you might already know about it, but if not, we have [email protected] . Would love to see you around, and I think you’d make a decent moderator if that’s something you’re interested in. It’s hard finding people who have experience with the medical system in Canada.
I should clarify I’m not in medicine. The panel was formed by a random sample of British Columbians and then we talked with different experts, but we ourselves aren’t experts or meant to be experts.
That’s ok, I’m also not a physician myself. I think it also helps to have community members involved in the healthcare system be a part of the community!
Just feel free to contribute as much as you like, we’re happy to have you :)