WATCH: Lake Country doctor shortage crisis

LAKE COUNTRY, B.C. – It’s a problem that plagues the entire province, but in Lake Country, the lack of doctors is now a full-blown crisis. Two out of the district’s seven doctors recently retired and the physicians left aren’t able to take on any more patients. That leaves roughly 2,000 residents with nowhere to go.

“The practices for booked appointments are full everyday often for weeks at a time because of the shortage of doctors in the community,” says Doctor Kelly Murphy.

The mayor of Lake Country, James Baker, was one of the thousands of patients left with no other options.

“Fortunately my wife has a different family physician in Kelowna. She has agreed to take me on as a patient,” says Baker.

The population of Lake Country has doubled in the past two decades while the number of doctors has remained the same.

Doctors are now handling nearly 2,000 patients each, which is well above the suggested average of 12 – 13 hundred and cannot accept any more.

Baker hopes to attract doctors by sweetening the pot, though the provinces rural incentive program. However, the government says Lake Country is too close to Kelowna and Vernon to meet the criteria.

The search for doctors is a growing problem across the region with 20 percent of Central Okanagan physicians expected to retire in the next four years.

“We’re even thinking of putting a billboard in Saskatchewan in the middle of winter with the nice sunny Okanagan,” says Tristan Smith with the Division of Family Practice.

In the meantime, patients and doctors are trying to make do.
There is a walk-in clinic at the Lake Country facility to help fill the need of those patients who don’t have a doctor.

Another route the district is looking into is recruiting nurse practitioners.