New data released on Wednesday shows that British Columbians continue to have the longest wait times in the country to see a doctor at a walk-in clinic.
Data from Medimap, which tracks wait times at clinics, showed that the average wait in B.C. was 93 minutes in 2023.
North Vancouver had the longest average wait times at 187 minutes.
Ontarians waited an average of 59 minutes in 2023.
However, Medimap only operates in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
B.C.’s Health Minister said the province has added hundreds more family doctors, but the CEO of Medimap said recent changes to the physician payment model have meant more doctors are leaving walk-ins to pursue family practice.
“So because these doctors are abandoning walk-in clinics, going into these medial clinics… they are making the shortage of supply even tighter,” Thomas Jankowski said.
However, Health Minister Adrian Dix said this report does not show the full picture.
“With respect to this report, as you know it’s a partial report,” he said. “It’s the people who are their clients and obviously in part is to promote their service and all of that is fine but the progress in British Columbia is something that the whole country is looking at.”
According to Medimap, the B.C. cities with the shortest walk-in clinic wait times are Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Vancouver.
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