scrubbedexpat091

I didn't think MSP would cover either of those.

"preventive services and screening tests not supported by evidence of medical effectiveness (for example, routine annual "complete" physical examinations, whole body CT scans, prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests);"

Services Not Covered by MSP - Benefits


South of the border, insurance companies push preventive care and may even discount your premiums if you have an annual preventive care exam.

MSP seem's to prefer waiting until your sick, but won't that cost more in the long run?

Too much conflicting information out there for my brain to decipher it all.



I am about 75% satisfied with physical medical care, but with mental health, I give it a big fat 0, the mental health system just sucks, and focuses way too much on medicating and refuses to provide alternatives that studies show help the patient, my disorder, there is no medication, but studies have shown a specific therapy to be of great benefit to the patient, but MSP won't cover it, and it's not cheap, so like many who cannot afford it, we go without proper mental health care.


I don't want a US system, I just think an over haul is needed to bring the system up to be more efficient and have high quality of consistent care.


Biggest concern with getting older is knowing the local hospital is not capable of handling major medical emergency like a major heart attack, brain bleed, stroke, and that the paramedic unit overnight is not staffed and if needed, BC ambulance calls them from home, then they have to go to the ambulance house get their unit and then respond, can easily take 20-30 mins to get paramedic unit overnight.

scrubbedexpat091

Chetwynd, BC

We have a nice new clinic, but we need doctors.

Apparently the 4 current doctors are leaving town, and no new doctors have signed up yet.

Chetwynd, B.C., builds new clinic — but has no doctors - British Columbia - CBC News

BristolUK

When doctors are paid a fee per patient seen it's hard to imagine the practice of doubling up of patients per appointment is conducive to good patient care.

This province had a problem a couple of years ago with an unexplained massive difference in what many doctors were charging compared to others. I must remember to look it up when I get back later and see what happened to the announced investigation.

scrubbedexpat091

I have a feeling due to the overall lack of doctors and few accepting patients, some take on more patients then they can handle in an effort to try and provide a GP to a patient.


Obviously pre-expenses and overhead my doctor received 312,000 in compensation from MSP in the last fiscal year.

I have no idea where that falls for a GP. Looking at the list of doctors in his practice, his is the 2nd highest, lowest in the practice is 129,000.

Obviously before overhead costs, there are 12 doctors in the practice.


http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/DownloadAs...uebook2014.pdf


I wonder how that compares to what a GP makes south of the border. (appears the median is 180,000 for a GP/Family doc and appears to not include self employed GP's.)

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291062.htm

Doctors can be employed with companies/non-profits directly down there.

http://scpmg-physicians-site.ttcport...y-medicine--31



I would support higher pay for doctors if their take home pay in BC is lower then average, suppose it all depends on the overhead a doctor has here, but doctors are worth every penny in my view.

bats

Don't presume I haven't posted facts nor accuse me of lack of insight. Accountability at College level is far from accountability at a local level. A complaint at College level is about overall fitness to practice, not individual problems. Do you want patients to contact the college every time they think you or your practice are in error?

I've seen and read little evidence of clinical audit, of evidence based practice. Statistics on surgery outcomes for example. You'll find it for hospitals and departments but not for individual doctors. If I want to complain about how long I have to wait for an outpatient appointment there's nowhere to go, should I call the College?

The staff and doctors I work with are very skilled and caring people and yet
I routinely take xray views here that are rarely carried out in the UK. Every examination has more views done. Why?

There's a limit to what I can post on a public forum so I can't post specifics and my comments are not just based on my workplace. Plus I've been a patient in the system too.

Medicine here is, as are many things in Canada, half way between the USA and Europe. It needs to be more cohesive joined up medicine to give a better overall service.

Edit. SP I see that you were offended by my post so I went back to see why. Take out the word 'so' in my comment which makes it imply that the views are done for monetary gain considering how busy the rads are this is unlikely in a hospital setting. My grumbles are not with individual or the standards of care but with the system in which we work.

scrubbedexpat091

Based on a patient perspective, I do find I get more x-rays done in Canada vs the US.

Another difference I notice between the 2 countries is when you have a sore throat, in the US the doctor always swabbed and sent it to the lab for a culture before prescribing anything for it.

Here they just dish out antibiotics like they are going out of style.


(based on my experience as a patient with the doctors I have seen, and no way implying all doctors operate the same way.)

I complained once to the health authority about the ER doctor who was nasty to me, and all they did was send a form letter saying they expect professional behaviour from staff, and they were sorry. But no mention of them talking to the doctor about it.

I no longer complain, total waste of time.

colchar

Healthcare is a provincial issue not a national one. And what is your "frustration with the GP situation a good portion of Canada has"?

colchar

Funnily enough, as I was reading this thread I was listening to a London talk radio station and the news came on. One of the top stories included a clip of Milliband complaining about the alleged destruction of the NHS at the hands of the Tories

scrubbedexpat091

Its provincial based on federal rules, no reason the feds cannot update and bring in changes to the Canada Health Act.

Your living under a rock if your not aware of the doctor shortage in Canada with a lot of people without adequate medical care because they have no GP or they have to wait weeks to see their GP.

Not to mention some of the wait times for procedures.

Canada is just above the US healthcare wise in many reports, not really anything to be proud of.

Improvements can be made, and doesn't mean it has to go private. Some reason people think changes to the system means having to go private like the US which is not true.

JonboyE

I know of a similar case in the UK - the husband of a colleague was told he needed open heart surgery urgently. The surgeon said the waiting time on the NHS was six months. He could do the operation next week in the private hospital he worked in for £10,000 (and that was when £10,000 was worth £10,000). The patient did not have £10,000. He did not survive the NHS waiting list.

A public / private system may be more efficient but I think that any system that requires you to periodically come up with large amounts of cash just to stay alive is wrong at every possible level.

And for those that complain of Canadian practitioners over-treating just for money, don't you see the glaring conflict of interest inherent in the public / private model?

Oakvillian

I was just writing a response to Colchar's rather bizarre assertion, but you got there before me. This trope of healthcare being a provincial rather than national issue is largely a myth. For sure, the provinces administer the money and provide both the funding for hospital services and the single-payer insurer. But the fundamental issues over the provision of basic care through Medicare, the effective prohibition of private health care, the establishment of physicians as private practitioners who bill the provincial insurer, the amount of funding transferred to the provinces for health and social programmes, are pretty much all regulated federally through the 1984 Canada Health Act.

Canada's healthcare services are, in many instances and in many places, creaking at the seams. Access to family practitioners, long wait times for follow-up appointments with specialists, inconsistent access to notes, are all widely documented and well publicised. If Colchar chooses to look through his rose-tinted spectacles, that's his prerogative, but that does not mean that everything in the garden is necessarily as rosy as it appears.

JamesM

I've always said laughter is the best medicine.

not2old

On that comment & what you know from your personal or your husbands shared experience, would you say or comment on ....

-That the NHS at GP level is much better or more efficient than in Canada, if so - in which way is it better?

-The GP's in the UK work harder than they do in Canada, or the other way round?

-That the GP's in the UK give better service to their patients than in Canada?

scrubbedexpat091

I'll share my experiences with the specialists I have been to.

Colonoscopy in 2011, referral sent in March 2011, appointment with specialist in May 2011, and procedure in late August.


Heart thinger test (forget the actual name of test) referral in September 2013, hospital called in November 2013, procedure in May 2014.

That was longest I have ever waited for anything in Canada, but it was a heck of a long wait, even called and got quotes in WA state (too much $$ so wasn't able to) just so I didn't have to worry for months on end.


Wife had a referral for well I doubt she want's me to post it, but 2 months in and not even an appointment yet, specialist does have the referral, just booked solid at the moment.


I'd like to say its because we are in a small town, but none of these referrals or procedures are done locally and are all in Vancouver/North Vancouver/Fraser Valley. 90% of the time its North Vancouver, but not always.

Only procedure that never has a long wait is CT scans which are done in Whistler. X-rays and ultra sounds a few days, and lab is accessible without wait on a first come basis at the hospital.

Oink

I'm fine as we have our own medical staff but HID would like to be able "go private" but apart from all the looney types of nonsense like chiropractors and faith healers, there is no option other than to go down to the US.