That new deal for doctors is not what is seems
The new “deal” for doctors will do little for many of the one-million-plus B.C. residents without a family doctor. But it will likely keep hundreds of thousands more from joining their ranks this year.
The public heard that all family docs got a 50 per cent raise, make at least $385,000, and are the best paid in Canada. All incorrect. In reality, billings and sky-high overhead will vary as much as with the existing system.
Individual docs have a choice. They can toss one complex system of rules and incentives and replace it with a small number of much lower payments for services and an hourly billing rate below that of a paralegal. Rules are unclear. The incentives promoting short, one-problem visits remain.
Or they can keep the broken system they’ve figured out how to work around.
Many who couldn’t afford to keep doing what they love will now be able to get by. Excellent. But it won’t attract many more.
Doctors of B.C. negotiators traded the leverage of an unprecedented health crisis and public support for an ill-defined set of weak promises.
Government didn’t touch accountability for patient care, the inefficiency of unstaffed UPCCs, or the billion dollars extra spent on health bureaucracy annually under Health Minister Adrian Dix. They went from the villain to appearing to give doctors everything they asked for. When our health system remains in chaos in the coming years, they now have a fall guy.
Mark Roseman
Victoria
Creative solutions needed to ease doctor shortage
The new deal with Doctors of B.C. is likely to become a benchmark for other Canadian Medical Associations to follow. The deal provides fair compensation for the work family physicians do; it will also ease attrition, draw new medical graduates to family practice and encourage family practices to take in more patients.
However, its impact on addressing the current health crisis due to physician shortage will likely take a few years.
The deal appears to have been developed with some political urgency and expediency since the entire focus of the deal is on building family physician capacity; there are no incentives in this restructuring deal to manage demand.
No matter how much we pay to family physicians through the new payment method, it is unrealistic to expect physicians to dislodge their personal and family aspirations beyond a certain point to meet demand.
Any such expectation would lead to burnout and frustrations similar to what we have been recently hearing from nurses and ER staff across the province.
As we are at this juncture of making this unprecedented restructuring of family practice in B.C., it is a right time to negotiate and integrate some creative solutions in the master agreement that encourage shift in patients’ behaviour towards self-care and prevention to affect demand.
Focus alone on building and paying for physician capacity would not lead to a stable and financially sustainable system over a long haul.
Paramjit Singh
Victoria
Councillors, you can’t pick bits of the Constitution
Like it or not, the British Crown is fundamental to a set of 13 Constitutional Acts enacted from 1867 and culminating in the Canada Act (UK) of 1982 that establish the legal framework for the governance of Canada including municipalities. Under this framework King Charles III is Canada’s Head of State.
By refusing to swear allegiance to the Crown, the new mayor and five of Victoria’s new councillors demonstrate a woeful ignorance of our Constitution, the legal framework of Canada and their responsibilities in governance.
In doing so they align themselves with the likes of Doug Ford in Ontario, Danielle Smith in Alberta and the Freedom Convoy leaders in believing that they can pick and choose which parts of the Constitution applies to them.
This is a very dark and dangerous path for democracy.
Not a very auspicious start for five individuals elected by less that 10% of the eligible voters. I can only hope that they and the mayor are quick learners about governance and what their purpose actually entails.
Alan Humphries
Victoria
A slippery slope from this food fight
These “ends justify the means” arguments, most recently about vegan/vegetarianism in the letters section, are getting tedious. The rationalization goes that ending eating meat will: Save the environment, assist the fight against global warming, help in the health care crisis, end cruelty, and who knows what else.
That choice or preference seem not to enter into consideration brings such arguments within a hair’s breadth of compulsion. The next step is a politician saying, “there ought to be a law” as a way to get votes. We know what comes after that.
It’s this kind of fuzzy logic and dangerous thinking that has set up our highly polarized politics. Left/liberals and right/conservatives, both devoid of integrity, now demonize each other as a way to establish rule-based regimes that will enforce conformity to the rules of their particular banal ideology.
As a choice not to eat meat for any of the above stated reasons, respect for that choice follows. That respect, however, subsides and hardens into resentment when it becomes less a choice and more an ideological cudgel.
This is one food fight that demonstrates the dangers we face by putting platitudes over principles.
Paul Walton
Nanaimo
Hospital staff shortages, but fantastic treatment
I’m at home recovering from very recent open heart surgery. During my seven day stay at the Royal Jubilee all the people who took care of me — surgeons, nurses, imaging techs etc. — were going full tilt.
Staff shortages were readily apparent. Thanks to their collective efforts, though, I left the hospital literally with a new lease on life.
They’re all pretty special people and they deserve not only our gratitude but also fair compensation for their efforts, all of them.
As the writer says, the new fee schedule for GPs is a step in the right direction but there is more work to be done. You get what you pay for.
Thanks Royal Jubilee staff, you’re all rock stars!
Phil Redgrave
Cordova Bay
We can remember as we honour peace
On Nov. 11 I will remember. I will think of all those who have died who have, willingly or unwillingly, put their lives at risk to defend what they believed in and lost.
I will think too of those who returned from fighting disabled or scarred for life in so many ways.
I will think too of those who are not fighters but also victims of war, the women, men and children whose homes and livelihood are in the war zone, in the path of death and destruction. And I will think of those risking lives to defend them.
I will think of all those who died or suffered injury or loss of home or family or capability, whatever their nationality or faith or dreams. All are victims.
And I will not glorify war but will honour peace.
John Carver
Duncan
Water board support helped drive reservoir expansion
As one of the senior managers mentioned in the recent letter about water, I appreciate the recognition given for our part in the expansion of Sooke Lake Reservoir.
However, I think that a lot of credit should be given to the excellent support and leadership that was given by the members of the Greater Victoria Water Board, under the leadership of the chair, the late Nils Jensen.
Despite considerable pressure by the concerned citizens and environmental groups, which included many months of presentations and demonstrations at almost every board meeting, the board never wavered in their support and determination that the project should proceed.
Peter Malone
Cobble Hill
Use your high beams the way they should be
When to use high beams? In low light, low traffic areas.
When not to use high beams?
Dim for oncoming vehicular traffic, includes bicycles. Pedestrian are also blinded and could trip and fall.
Dim when following another vehicle as the rear view mirror in that vehicle reflects your high beams right into driver’s eyes.
Distance prior to dimming? You see the incoming or following traffic, dim immediately.
And if someone flashes their high beams at you it is not rude. It is a gentle reminder your high beams compromise safety .
Example for perspective:
High beams are so intense these days that driving in the dark from Island View Beach to the highway vision is compromised by vehicles with high beams waiting at the Pat Bay Highway lights, headed east.
Used as designed and needed, the new version of high beams is effective, misused they are a hazard.
Karen Harris
Victoria
Climate emergency is a top priority
Re: “Eby needs to work hard, and appoint Appadurai,” letter, Nov. 1.
He does indeed. The B.C. Climate Emergency Campaign (a two-year collective effort of more than 25 B.C. organizations) just released their report card on the B.C. government’s progress in implementing 10 urgent climate actions. Bottom line: progress in four areas; still failing in six.
According to NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus, climate and ecological breakdown is here. We can no longer procrastinate. “The longer we wait to act, the worse the floods, fires, droughts, famines, and heatwaves will get.” Of course, if you live in B.C., you know this to be true without having it confirmed by a NASA scientist.
You can view the Climate Emergency report card here: https://bcclimateemergency.ca/
After you read it, you might want to follow up with a call to your MLA.
Karyn Woodland
Colwood
Portugal offers housing as a first priority
A letter writer complained that “the homeless” in Portugal are better behaved than “the homeless” in Victoria.
Actually, the number of homeless people in Portugal is vanishingly small, reason being that in Portugal the taxpaying public accepts responsibility for homelessness and supports a housing-first policy that sees to it that everyone has an apartment, including social, medical and psychiatric supports if necessary.
This is in contrast to B.C., where financial predators are given free rein to drive the cost of housing into the stratosphere, plundering the surplus our economy creates, and leaving little to fund proper housing and supports for “the homeless” beyond a mat in a hall from which everyone is evicted early in the morning and not allowed back in until evening.
Bill Appledorf
Victoria
Hey, tailgaters, don’t blame the victim
Re: “Points to ponder on the region’s roads,” column, Oct. 21.
I must protest John Ducker’s comments about driving speed and tailgating. There is no “required speed” anywhere in B.C., save for minimum vehicle capabilities on major highways.
Driving under the speed limit can be frustrating to other drivers, but rarely is a slower speed more dangerous than a higher one, nor does it cause more pollution, nor is it more expensive.
When it comes to tailgating, Ducker seems to be blaming the victim. It is the impatient drivers who should consider the effects of their driving habits on others.
Tailgating is always the tailgater’s fault. If you find yourself constantly tailgating and honking, talk to someone you trust about your driving.
Ian McQuade
Cumberland
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