B.C. doctors seeking a better work-life balance, and that could be hurting care: Vancouver MD

Physicians are increasingly unwilling to put in 80-hour work weeks, and that’s affecting British Columbians’ access to care, according to a Vancouver doctor.

Dr. Raymond McConville said the solution to this is for the province to recruit doctors more aggressively. But instead, B.C. is falling behind.

About 15 per cent of British Columbians don’t have access to a regular family physician, according to a recent report by the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), which suggested that matters could worsen as more doctors reach retirement age.

McConville said the problem isn’t technically a “doctor shortage,” arguing that there has actually been an increased supply of doctors in the medical system in recent years.

The problem, McConville argued, is that those doctors are increasingly unwilling to work grueling hours, and are cutting back on shifts as they seek a better work-life balance.

“So that potentially reduces the availability in terms of the total hours of physician man-time or woman-time available,” McConville said.

“We need to accept that as part of the new reality, so while we’re increasing the number of doctors in terms of total numbers we aren’t necessarily seeing an increase in the number of hours worked.”

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As an example, McConville said he now works an average of about 35 hours a week, compared to the nearly 80 hours per week that he worked when he started his career in the early 1990s.

“I think we actually have to address the manpower crisis, B.C. significant lags behind in physician recruitment, so we are massively under-resourced physician-wise in B.C., and I think we’ll see more of that,” he said.

UBC’s School of Population and Public Health said in December that 40 per cent of physicians were over the age of 55, while billing data shows that the average age of retirement among B.C. doctors is 65.

That age about four years earlier in the Interior, a region that has struggled to attract new physicians.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Kootenay village of New Denver would be forced to limit emergency room hours to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Slocan Community Health Centre.

Meanwhile, an online service designed to help British Columbians find a family doctor is being shut down.

A feature of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC’s website that allows family doctors to identify themselves as accepting new patients will be discontinued on March 3.

The college said the tool is being taken offline because many doctors have reached patient capacity or they work in multiple locations, leading to reports on the site that are frequently inaccurate.