Meet some of the 6 million Canadians who don't have a family doctor

I have a family doctor, but they are in a different city than me because I never got a new one after moving away from my parents.

I can't risk looking for a new one because the supply is so low and I have a prescription which doctors refuse to make refillable. I need to get it re-prescribed every 90 days, even though I've been taking it at the same dosage for like 5 years now

I'm in the same boat. My doctor is on the other side of the city but I don't dare lose him because I need him to constantly refill an important prescription that really should just be infinite because I have to take it for the rest of my life. Thankfully I can do a lot of it by phone now which takes a lot of hassle off both of us.
- Yeah I haven't interacted with this doctor in literally a couple of years, but every time I call the pharmacy to refill me, the pharmacist faxes my doc, and lo and behold, the new script arrives. No idea why they can't just make it refillable. No doctor will do it though.
Half hour drive from mine assuming no traffic. All appointments are at least a week out, usually 2

I'm in QC and on the waiting list for 10 years. What is a family doctor? It's unknown here. And even if you have one you cannot see him before 3 or 4 weeks, so you go to the ER or private doctor

No doctor going on 6 years. The CLSC nurses have always seen me within a week; then I get an RV with a specialist within 3 weeks.

Would a doctor be nice? Yes. Does the CLSC system work for me? Also yes.

I'm guessing this varies wildly based on CLSC though.
Magistral BS. There is no 10 years waiting list FYI but since you’re allegedly on the list it would take you 36 hours to see a doctor following the GAP procedure and not 3 or 4 weeks as you say. You gotta be an impetuous out of province newcomer lost in and Québec bashing for no reason but justifying your ignorance.
- Since you’re Frenchie L’immigrant here is an article dated 2021 about Québec’s family doctor waiting list:
  
  https://www.journaldequebec.com/2021/08/02/599-jours-dattente-pour-avoir-son-medecin-de-famille
- Dis ce que tu veux mon ami, mais je suis inscrit au "guichet accès santé" depuis que ça existe, et je n'ai jamais eu de médecins de famille.

My doctor retired and I didn't get the email until weeks later. By then the replacement was full up, so yeah, no healthcare for me unless it's at the ER.

I have a family doctor. I put myself on a waiting list and got one.

Then he quit.

Then a doctor took over for him and I hate this guy.

What kinda snowflake am I, right? But I go in because I want to talk to him about xyz and he doesn't address it at all. Every 4 months it's another fucking test for ancillary shit and I still need something fixed.

Are they trying to wait my middle-aged ass out? Like maybe I'll randomly get a bigger problem so they don't have to schedule an ER for a 35-min procedure?

Checkmate, bitch. I'm moving across the street from the hospital, across the street and down from the lab and a block away from the doc's office. I'll do all the tests and X-rays and shit until I wait YOU out. I'll do appointments every day.

So like... Where are they all? Is there still a brain drain to the US?

COVID hillbillies made them all retire. Like "fuck this shit", and the supply being what it is it's gonna take yeeeeears to replace that many.
- Huh. Reading the article now that I have time, they cite massive immigration as an issue, not to mention training people from other countries who then go home.
  
  I know people in hospitals that retired when COVID hit, but not GPs. Not to say it isn't the case, but I'd like to see a large study showing WTF is going on.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

As CBC News has reported, the number of medical residency positions — a crucial pipeline that brings more doctors into the system — has been stagnant for the past decade.

Williams said it's unconscionable that a wealthy country like Canada leaves millions of people twisting in the wind without access to a primary care provider.

He considers himself healthy — his only ongoing concern is high blood pressure — but he's had his fair share of injuries, including wrecked shoulders and a bad hip that needed replacing.

He said he hasn't always been happy with the care he's received — a previous family doctor misdiagnosed his hip pain, depriving him of the replacement he really needed for years — but at least he had somebody to turn to when something popped up.

Pointing to the millions of dollars allegedly wasted on the pandemic-era ArriveCan app, Wishart said that money could have been a game-changer for a smaller region like his, which is perpetually starved for health resources.

If you put $56 million in — if you fired that into a place like Truro or Amherst, it would go a long way to helping out a little bit," he said, referring to the price tag of the bungled app development.

The original article contains 1,471 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 86%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Interesting to get to know one in Victoria. I found a family doctor within days of searching in Vancouver, so I have been assuming this is a big city x small city disparity, but if someone has been waiting 3 years in Victoria then there's something else at play?

Meet some of the 6 million Canadians who don't have a family doctor | CBC News