B.C. family doctor limits practice to those 50 and older

Family physician Dr. Sarah Truelson recently sent her patients an email saying that she needed to reduce the size of her practice, citing a family crisis. The doctor, based in Esquimalt, near Victoria, decided to focus her practice on patients aged 50 and older. She told those under 50 that she would no longer be able to treat them, according to the Victoria Times-Colonist. In the email, Dr. Truelson, one of five physicians with family practices at the Esquimalt Medical Clinic, wrote that a lack of locums to take on patients pushed her to make the decision. “I am not able to sustain the demands of my current full-time service family practice at this time, therefore will be closing this and maintaining a focused seniors practice,” Dr. Truelson wrote in the email shared with Victoria’s CHEK News. The Esquimalt Medical Clinic, which Dr. Truelson joined in 2020, also has a community health clinic, primarily for patients without family doctors, served by a rotation of physicians. Esquimalt Medical Clinic manager Levi Newnham told the Times-Colonist that the shortage of locums is “only ever getting worse,” and that many family doctors haven’t had a vacation in years. “Patient panel reductions are increasingly common due to a number of factors including ever-increasing complexity of patient population; ever-increasing pressure, demands and expectations being placed on family doctors; insufficient compensation and support; lack of locum availability; and lack of new family doctors opening practices,” said Newnham in an interview with CHEK News. Doctors of BC said this was the first time they had heard of a practice being reduced by age category. “We have not heard of any doctors doing this,” said Sharon Shore, a spokesperson for Doctors of BC. Both the Times-Colonist and CHEK News quoted patients under 50 who were disappointed to have now lost their family doctor. One, who has struggled with anxiety and depression, likened it to “being dumped from a relationship.” It’s estimated that about one million people in B.C. are without a family doctor, including about 100,000 in the South Island area. The number of Esquimalt residents without a primary-care practitioner was about 6,500 to 7,000 in 2019, the Times-Colonist reported, with about 17,650 people living in the township at the time. However, an Urgent and Primary Care Centre later opened in 2021.

B.C. family doctor limits practice to those 50 and older

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics