She found out on the phone from a stranger that she had cancer. She just wants a family doctor

The Current1:14:29Crisis in Care: A public forum on primary care and the shortage of GPs

When Tanya Sunshine discovered a lump in her breast last spring, she queued for five hours at an emergency clinic in Langford, BC to see a doctor.

The doctor examined her and sent her for examinations. When the results came back, Sunshine was told on the phone that she had breast cancer by another doctor she hadn’t met.

“The doctor felt awful, she almost cried with me – and I was alone,” Sunshine told Matt Galloway at a public health care forum hosted by The current in Victoria, BC on Monday.

“But then the next day I got another call from another doctor in the same location and he didn’t even know why he was calling me,” she said.

Sunshine asked if the doctor was calling with more test results, which jogged his memory.

“Then he just said, ‘This is bad. This is very, very bad. And you have a long way to go,’” she said.

It’s bad that the doctors had to be put in this position, that I didn’t see a GP – Tanya Sunshine

Sunshine is one of millions of Canadians who don’t have access to a primary care physician, meaning they are dependent on already overburdened emergency clinics and emergency rooms. But she doesn’t blame the doctors who called with her diagnosis.

“It’s bad that the doctors had to be put in this position, that I wasn’t with a GP who could bring me into the office and say, ‘Bring someone to take care of you,’” she said.

“It’s terrible for everyone on both sides, all around.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with provincial and territorial leaders on Tuesday to discuss solutions to the strain on Canada’s healthcare system. The federal government proposes health spending of $196.1 billion over the next decade, including $46.2 billion in new spending. The proposal targets four priority areas: family health services, health workers and residues, mental health and drug use, and a “modernized health system”.

On the public forum The current asked people why basic services matter to them – and what they want to see to solve the bigger problems.

CLOCK | Trudeau speaks to provincial and territorial leaders ahead of health meeting:

According to Trudeau, healthcare is not delivering “at the level that Canadians would expect.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discusses healthcare ahead of meeting with Prime Ministers.

Sunshine has been treated and is now cancer-free, but her oncologist is keeping her as a patient – solely for cancer-related treatment – because Sunshine does not have a family doctor.

She is hoping for more cooperation from the federal-state meeting to remedy the shortage.

“I would love to have a GP to look after me when I leave the cancer board and I would love for everyone to have a GP,” she said.

“I have two kids, we’re a family … so it would be great to know that I and my family are covered and taken care of in times of need.”

“Every Canadian deserves a GP”

Canada currently has a two-tier healthcare system — people with GPs and those without — said Dr. Jennifer Lush, who has worked in the GP practice in Victoria for 21 years.

“It’s not fair for Tanya to receive messages on the phone from a stranger when they could have been delivered in the context of a caring relationship to someone who knew her, who knew her background, who knew all of her other medical issues,” she said she Lush.

“Every Canadian deserves to have a family doctor.”

She said the reasons for the shortage are complex, but pointed out that income has not kept pace with the rising costs of running a practice and increasing paperwork is distracting doctors from direct patient care. Medical schools are pushing students toward becoming specialists and away from becoming family doctors, she said.

“Health care is not a political issue, it is a human right,” said Dr. Jennifer Lush. (Amanda Grant/CBC)

She wanted “a non-partisan solution” because “health is not a political issue, but a human right”.

“It’s time to put political differences aside and get to the brass nails to find efficient and sensible solutions to the health crisis,” she said.

“It needs to be fixed because every single Canadian — politician, doctor, patient alike — will need medical care sooner or later.”

More money, more transparency

The lack of primary care has made the emergency room a default destination for people who need help, said Dr. Omar Ahmad, Head of Emergency and Critical Care at Island Health in Victoria.

This has created an “unsustainable” situation for patients with long waits, but also for staff, he said.

“Our nurses are burned out, our doctors are burned out … it’s tough and we just can’t close our doors,” he said.

The emergency room doctor, Dr. Omar Ahmad said the pressure on emergency rooms had become “unsustainable”. (Amanda Grant/CBC)

He believes the system needs more funding to increase capacity.

“It would be great to see money coming in to improve our infrastructure so we have more places to see our patients, especially … in the emergency rooms so we have more space and more staff,” he said.

If funding is part of the solution, activist Camille Currie wants to know how that money is being spent.

“I want to know that there are measures in place to see where the money is going, how it’s being spent, and if it’s producing end results for the end users?” she said.

CLOCK | The 80-year-old Ont. Doctor says he can’t retire due to shortage of doctors:

The 80-year-old Ont. Doctor says he can’t retire due to lack of doctors

Rosemary Barton Live speaks to 80-year-old family doctor Dr. Peter Bell, who says he cannot retire from his practice in Sharbot Lake, Ontario, which treats about 3,000 patients, because of a shortage of family doctors across the province.

Currie’s family doctor left the province a year ago. Deciding that she couldn’t just sit and do nothing, she became a patient activist to help her and other families who were losing access.

The fight is personal to them. One of her children had a stroke in utero, and it was only through the “amazing coordination of care” that doctors were able to identify a gene mutation that caused it and initiate treatment to try to prevent it from happening again.

She wants other families across Canada to know that they have a voice in the choir calling for better health care — and that together they can stand up for the same end goal.

“Anybody out there that’s struggling, I want them to know that they can speak up, anybody can campaign,” she said.

“Every single voice can make a difference. Every single story can make a difference.”

Patient advocate Camille Currie said every Canadian can play a role in ensuring better healthcare for all. (Amanda Grant/CBC)

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