PMM

Hi



1, You may want to check out Integrated Wellness Integrated Wellness Medical Centre - Integrated Wellness Medical Clinics
2, My GP recommended them when he retired.
3. The GPs there will want to have an interview with you first to determine if you would be a "fit" for both of you.
4. I have no complaints, other than it takes about a two weeks to get an non urgent appointment.
5. Also they want to start from scratch, so there might be some tests that are duplicates that you have had previously.

Shard

Yes, I'll concede that with chronic conditions continuity of care is beneficial Although often in such cases the patient is seeing specific specialists anyway.

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Note to pal from Pedantry: My apostrophe in dates ("1950's") is a stylistic flourish! I know it's incorrect, but I just think it looks better, and in this age of texting and emoji's I'm sticking with it!!

Stinkypup

[QUOTE=Shard;12325809]Yes, I'll concede that with chronic conditions continuity of care is beneficial Although often in such cases the patient is seeing specific specialists anyway.


That is not true. If they are seeing a specialist, they typically see them every 6 months or even annually. Both in Canada and in the vast majority of medical care is provided by GPs and more often than not we are the ones who are dealing with these often complex patients.
I would say chronic disease is managed in the GP clinics, in the UK by the GP and Nurse Practitioners and in Canada mainly by the GPs as the system is more archaic.

Shard

[QUOTE=Stinkypup;12326030] Ah, ok. I suppose I have not had anything chronic (yet) so have not noticed.

BristolUK

I'm not sure I see a difference. If it's every 6 months or annually that is seeing specific specialists isn't it? My experiences would be it was geared to patient's needs.

As part of diabetic care both my wife and I were having an annual eye check-up but at one point the eye doc was seeing me every three months to keep an eye on things () but drops made an improvement and he increased the time between appointments again.

My wife went through a phase of seeing an endocrinologist every few weeks (possibly because of her other complications) and then less often but my doc was the only one for me.

She saw a respirologist and rheumatologist regularly too. The family doc's only involvement in those areas was occasionally renewing 'their' prescriptions when the ologists weren't available.

scrubbedexpat091

Other then psychiatry every specialist I have seen was for just a couple visits and some tests then back to the GP to manage the issue and any medications.

Psychiatrist was several times a year and GP had little involvement in care.

Stinkypup

This is a smidge andecdotal, she had clearly had significant complex needs- in the main, hypertension/diabetes / ischemic heart disease, COPD, asthma post stroke care, liver disease, renal disease, etc we typically manage the whole bang shoot with very sporadic input if any from the specialists. The same goes for mental health- the psychiatrists soon point the patients back to us unless poorly controlled or incredibly complex.

Tootlepootle

You mentioned tri cities, I live in Coquitlam and managed to get a family doctor quite quickly. The practice is based in a Walmart (Don't judge me) and is part of Vivacare. We have had no problems and can usually get an appointment within 48 hours, often same day. They had some spaces a while back so might be worth googling. Viva care Port Coquitlam. WE see Dr Jackson.

jerryhung

Sorry for the late response - thank you to everyone for your responses. We were out on a road trip - I will check out the refs (thanks again Tootle, PMM etc.)

And Oink, yes, tongue firmly in cheek!