There is no relevance to the disease you contract and being registered with a GP. If your diagnosis began in a walk-in clinic you would be referred to specialists who would manage your condition.

hmm, I think people are taking Souvy's satirical post a bit too seriously.

You'd think those kind of problems would get you access to a GP, because they are the kind of things that need continuity of care, but my experience in the last couple of months has proven that cancer actually makes it virtually impossible to get a GP.

We got a family GP last year, I waited four months to get an interview with her, so she could decide if she would take us on as patients. She said she would take on our whole family, but didn't want to see them all.

In October my husband (who is only 38) hurt his back. I called our GP but there were no appointments available, so he went to the walk in clinic. Four visits later, when the pain was unbearable we went right to the hospital, and they diagnosed a mildly herniated disc. The pain just kept getting worse, and he started losing feeling in his buttocks, so we went back to the hospital, and he wasn't even examined properly this time. They just spoke to him in the corridor as they were busy.

It was only when one of my petsitting clients (who is an ER doc at a different hospital) asked me how my hubby was doing that we got some attention, as when she heard his symptoms she called her hospital and told them he was coming in. They found a massive tumour in his spine that night, and the following day he was transferred to a cancer hospital and started radiation right away.

Fast forward to release time, my husband could barely move, his muscles have wasted so he can't support his weight, and because he had 20 sessions of radiation, he was completely exhausted. I couldn't get him out of bed without him almost passing out or vomiting, so I called our doctor.

She no longer wanted to accept him as a patient as he has cancer, and this will mean more work for her. I called around, and no doctor would take him, they either said no outright, or they'd only take him if they could meet him and assess him, which was completely pointless as they knew I couldn't get him out of bed.

It's been a right bundle of fun I can tell you, so I would definitely advise moving heaven and earth to get a doctor before anyone in your family gets sick. We don't expect these things, I know we certainly didn't, and it's a lot harder trying to negotiate it all when you're in the thick of cancer treatments.

Ohh bloody hell - thinking of you - not much I can say really - hugs x x x

"Canada needs more family physicians."
Globe and Mail Dec. 03, 2009

We have had our doctor for over 15 years and can never get an appointment for at least 10 weeks in Cobourg. Fortunately we are rarely sick but have to use the walk-in if we needed to.

I was sick while in UK last winter and was treated accordingly but I decided to make an appointment with my doctor iin the summer to inform him what happened but mainly to ask why I have to wait 10 weeks and I'm never able to get an emergency appointment.

His reply was that he works in the hospital emergency he does this, that and the other and "we multi task around here. If you need to see me leave your phone number and I will get back to you (he has reputation for not returning calls) and I will arrange to meet you in a parking lot!!!"

I am hoping to change doctors but it isn't that easy and so many are connected with hospital that they too have many weeks for us to wait to see them.

I must say that most of the comments on this thread do not reflect my experience. My husband and I returned to Canada in 2007 (Surrey BC). I needed a new doctor so we did a search and found a list of doctors that were currently accepting patients in our area. We interviewed some and made our decision- all within a week of our arrival. I was pregnant at the time and had no problems with a doctor accepting us. In BC doctors are paid by how often you visit, so having a previous ailment shouldn't distract them.

Our doctor's office is closed during the weekends. In this case we have 4 drop in clinics within a 2 minute drive of our house. All of them accept patients on first come first serve drop in basis so sometimes you may have wait (usually no longer than an hour). All in all we have found the care in the Lower Mainland to be top notch. I think the problems occur when you live in a small town.

I think the comments are fair. Canada is a very big country and care varies a LOT.

I had trouble finding a GP after years of going to walk in clinics. Walk in clinics are fine, but the local one we were using had changed to giving patients who actually belonged to their practise priority, which meant a long wait to see a doctor at times. On top of this, with a kid I was worried about continuity of care and having files with different clinics all over the place. So I rang my husband's practice and talked them into taking us on as we're his family and he's been with them a long time.

This practice is doing something new for BC (and maybe Canada). You sign an agreement with them promising to never go to another walk in clinic. In return, you are given an emergency number to call if you ever need care - it's guaranteed. On weekdays I can always get seen by whoever is on that day and into my doctor normally within a week. I like that all our information is kept in one place, most of all.

GP availability varies so much, the country is too big to generalize it. We live in the countryside in Manitoba. We have a GP in our little town, no problem whatsoever. For appointments we call in the morning and can come in either the same day or the next day. The clinic closes at 4 PM and on the weekends, if we need attention then, we have to drive 30 min to the next ER service ..where sometimes we need to wait for a few hours...but that seems nothing compared to some of the comments I read here