Walk-in clinic wait times higher in B.C. than every other jurisdiction in the country

It is an achievement British Columbia wants no part of: the longest walk-in wait times in the country.

Data provided by online wait time tracker Medimap shows patients in British Columbia had to wait an average of 58 minutes to see a physician at a walk-in clinic in 2021.

This is compared to Ontario where patients waited on average 15 minutes.

The national average is 25 minutes of waiting.

5:28 B.C. premier talks about investment in watershed health

“This was surprising to us,” Medimap CEO Blake Adam said.

“Our expectation was that wait times would have gone down because people were staying home, connecting with doctors virtually, it should have freed up capacity and that is what happened in every other province.”

Six of the 10 cities with the longest average wait times across Canada in 2021 were located in British Columbia, with Victoria recording the longest average wait time at 161 minutes.

Kelowna, White Rock, North Vancouver and Vancouver also recorded average wait-times that were 60 minutes or longer.

Walk-in clinics in Manitoba and Saskatchewan saw their average wait times decrease from 2019, with the average wait time in Manitoba 20 minutes and the average wait time in Saskatchewan 31 minutes.

The city with the shortest wait time in British Columbia was Coquitlam with patients waiting on average 13 minutes to see a doctor at a walk-in clinic in 2021.

1:32 Will B.C. government move to address critical doctor shortage?

Many walk in clinics have closed their doors across B.C. during the pandemic, driving up wait times for those remaining open.

Others have transitioned to an appointment model, where patients need to call in the morning to drop-in during the day.

“It is so hard. I had to call 70 times just to get an appointment because it is so busy in the morning,” patient Matt Harmeson said.

“It is a lottery system to get through to the receptionist. It is pretty clear there are not enough doctors.”

2:05 Award-winning B.C. family doctor warns she’s at ‘breaking point’ over massive workload

The provincial government has boosted funding for urgent primary care centres, which provide services in between a traditional walk-in clinic and a hospital emergency room.

B.C. Premier John Horgan says the biggest problem is a lack of healthcare funding from the federal government.

The Council of the Federation, which Horgan chairs, has been calling on the federal government to increase how much money it puts in.

“We need a massive infusion of cash from Ottawa to deliver our healthcare,” Horgan said.

“It is what separates us from the United States. It is one of the proudest parts of our social safety net.”