Stinkypup

Nelson was our second choice- we are in the Okanagan, as you can see by my profile! Castlegar not so much!! Great place to live- quite a bit on the various threads about the area- presumably you have contacted Healthmatch BC.

snoopdawg

When looking for jobs, just remember you are in demand. There will be some genuine offers and some just looking to lower their own overheads.

You want to know what you can do in the office- min/max ( days/hours/money!), coverage, overheads- lower the better obviously.
Are the other docs planning on taking vast holidays leaving you to man the ship and pay their overheads? Watch the ones who seem great business people- again some will be genuine, some will want to use you.

Taking on an established practice has benefits- generally a "screened" population, you can take over the CDM billing immediately- no lag time building up a list- higher income from the start.
BUT the retiring/leaving doctor may work very differently from you, older GPs here can be quite lax with their opiate/benzo prescribing and you could have major disagreements!

Hospital privileges- you know Interior Health will insist on them as part of sponsorship for your provisional licence?
Once you have a full licence then you can stop, or go elsewhere- Vancouver and beyond- some parts of VI

You're not coming to the Okanagan at a good time- which is maybe wise- you see it when we are transitioning to winter- it's bare, can be cloudy, not very pretty. If you still like it, then you'll love it the rest of the year.
Where in the Okanagan will depend on what you are after- a larger city-more going on, Big White ( but 1 hour from town)- Kelowna, smaller, more elderly, drier- Penticton, more greenery, decent sized city, easy access to Kelowna airport,great skiing close to town ( 20 mins)- Vernon, Kamloops to the north is also worth looking at.
Lots of smaller towns- with cheaper/larger plots/acreage- if thats what you want.

We were told this weekend by recruiters from the Kamloops area that the previously steady stream of GPs from South Africa has disappeared, putting YOU in a great position.
Almost every single town/city will need GPs- IF you didn't need a supervisor, you could set up shop and do very well anywhere, unfortunately you do - that limits you.
Have a long read of the thread- lots in there and do searches on each area.

FYI Nelson is great, but you'll struggle not to do the hospital I think- ever!!!
It's also quite isolated- I was talking to some people who grew up there recently- they said they love it but left as they wanted to be somewhere more accessible although whether that's true in the winter, it's dubious. The Okanagan has mountain ranges to all sides- guaranteeing a trip anywhere on a definite day outside of July/August is impossible I am actually serious- I've seen snow on the Coquihalla in June and early September

Structure of trip- send out your CV- delete 90% of offers that come back from places that are just crazy- drive between the rest- you could happily fill 2-4 weeks with breaks/ holiday in-between. BUT as I stated above- watch the weather- get a car with winter tires- you may need to delay trips for a few hours/day- not the easiest time of year for a road trip in mountains. Once you're in the Okanagan itself you should be fine before Christmas- but we have had snow/very cold ( -20c) weather in late November in previous years.

Kevill12

Thanks for all the information in your last and all previous posts, Snoopdawg, its looking like Okanagan or Nelson for me.

pmpm

Hi all,

Thank you for all the information in this thread. I have a query if somebody can kindly answer that.

I qualified as a GP in 2010. My wife is a GP as well and qualified in 2008. We both want to move to Canada and are looking for BC or Alberta. However for BC we both don't have General surgery rotation in our postings. I worked as an Orthopaedic SHO for 4months in 2005. and My wife did Clinical attachment in Paeds Surgery & Orthopaedics in 2003. Can these be counted against General Surgery rotation?

If not then we'll probably move to Alberta. My next question is once we get full licence in Alberta - can we then move anywhere in Canada like BC or do these requirements about postings still apply?

Thanks in advance

segs

Q 1:The best person to answer this would be your Healthmatch BC contact or directly pose the question to the College of Physicians and Surgeons BC registration dept...

Q 2 :Canada does not yet have a licence to practice medicine that transfers from province to province, so you will at the stage you want to move, apply to the college in that province and then see if you meet the requirements. You may be better off trying to meet the criteria for your preferred province from the get go to avoid moving again

Hope that helps

Stinkypup

I am sure that you have looked already but go back through this thread and see how others have filled in the gaps for the clinical requirements. Snoopdawg and I were lacking in paeds but made up our required time attending hospital clinics and ward rounds etc in our spare time. This was hard work and time consuming but worth it. We are working in BC.

As Segs has said, contact Healthmatch, they are a very useful resource. I would agree with Segs, changing provinces can be tricky- I hadn't done A &E so Alberta was a non starter having also to catch up paeds-having said that, I love Alberta but BC was our initial preference. In the "olden days" general surgery was typically one of the house jobs alongside general medicine, clearly not nowadays!!

snoopdawg

You may get lucky with the Paeds surgery, I think ortho is too far removed though.
No harm in asking! Stinky got credit for A&E from doing orthopaedics and ENT.
It really isn't too much work to do the necessary if you can find a friendly local surgeon to help and in the grand scheme of things is a small time sacrifice. It will be worth it to get here.

pmpm

Thank you all for replies,

I did ask Healthmatchbc and they did not really give me a straight answer. In a way they have told me that I will have to get surgical attachment. It's just that I am so occupied with other roles of mine that I can't spare time to go to clinic, therefore asked about moving province after getting full licence. I feel it will be easy to give an exam than collecting all these letters!! I am getting conflicting advice on that as well because some of my friends who are in Canada are saying that it is possible to move from Alberta to BC after you have full licence. I just want to have an option later on -- you never know I might just like Alberta and decide to settle there.

With this new changes with sponsorship in Alberta - it seems the jobs are difficult to get in Urban area. Is that right?

Stinkypup

I cant comment on the Albertan situation Our comments still stand with regard to transferring provinces Re Your bolded comment-- your choice but there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get to work here, they don't tend to make exceptions- agreed you may well like Alberta, areas of it are beautiful and it depends what you want from life but don't presume that you can beat the system, Provincial health care is absolutely separate between provinces. Healthmatch generally talk sense

Dhillstaines

Hi

I can share my experience, I found Healthmatch slow and unhelpful. The jobs they put me through with, we're not great either.
I did my own research,liaised with the CPSBC a lot. Now I have a good offer from Fraser area.
My sister is a Gp in Alberta. Once she gets her full license, she can move to BC.
She has looked into it, rules changed in 2013 and GPs with full license and PR and move provinces under free labour act. ontario is the only province which is still trying to make this movement difficult.
My sis works in Edmonton, she told me demand is filling up fast since they opened up licensing to SE Asia as well.
These days it is Hardee's to get into urban areas but there is always a way back into urban practice even if you start elsewhere.
Do your own research , file your application sooner rather than later, rules change quite quickly I canada .
Good luck with everything, but do make sure you Are moving for the right reasons.
My sisters mentioned that as GPs they are responsible for 24 hours care for her patients. She has to make arrangements for her cross cover as well. She is managing well though and quite happy with her professional life.

Hope this helps

Gowest

Hi pmpm - did you not do general surgery at F1 or 2 - I got a letter from my general surgery house officer job in 1995 and that was ok. Also I have heard of people getting approval for minor surgery as GP - I would contact CPSBC. I too have found HMBC vague on certain details.

Dhillstaines

minor surgery as a GP does not count, but F" may, depends on the view of the college on that. they want training to be done after getting the full registration with GMC, not sure what happens with F1/F2, I am from the old stock :-)

snoopdawg

I am "old stock" too but they were happy with our house dog medicine and surgery, pre reg.
Just to add , a flow chart from the CPSBC to help with registration

https://www.cpsbc.ca/files/pdf/REG-Full-Prov-GP.pdf

The way I see it, the easiest way to move Province is to get your CCFP via MRCGP, then no worries re subjects done.
Also no worries re having to have privileges

Woodywestie

Hi wondering if any Gos in Ontario? Ideally Toronto or Ottowa? I am a GP partner in England, am getting more confused more I read about what is needed to get a licence in Ontario. I have emailed health force Ontario who keep sending me more forms to complete am hoping after least one will get some clarity. I think I need to do the MCCEE and then get documents verified and I am unsure I I can do part 1 and 2 MCC when there. Anyone moved recently?

Also one reason for move would be better work life balance. Is that the case for people? Is it possible to work part time? Is it only possible to practice with your own list, we potentially may be on a tempory visit for three years with husbands job, or can you locum or do walk in clinic type work. What are indemnity fees like?

Thanks in advance

Gowest

Indemnity fees - https://www.cmpa-acpm.ca/documents/10179/24999/2015cal-e.pdf

Basically if you don't do GP obstetrics or ER then in ON it was $4668 last year. A lot less than UK

Health force Ontario are the place to go for details re registration and criteria or CPSO

http://www.healthforceontario.ca/en/Home/Physicians/Training_|_Practising_Outside_Ontario/Licensing_and_Certification

http://www.cpso.on.ca/Policies-Publications/Policy/Restricted-Certificate-of-Registration-for-Exam-El