A new survey from the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association shows that the shortage of family doctors has the greatest impact on those in the lowest income brackets.
Approximately 19 per cent of people in this province do not have a family doctor.
Among those surveyed, 26 per cent with household incomes less than $50,000 a year had no family doctor. Those with household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000, about 21 per cent reported having no family doctor, while the number drops to just seven per cent for households with incomes in excess of $100,000.
President of the NLMA, Dr. Charlene Fitzgerald says this was shocking and disappointing to find out.
She says in a way, these numbers give credence to what they’ve been feeling—that the problem is growing, along with the number of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who don’t have access to family physicians.
Fitzgerald says there’s a big problem, as emergency rooms are more and more backed up.
For example, if someone with a condition like emphysema was having difficulty breathing, a family doctor would be able to follow up on them the next day or week. Their medication may then be tweaked by someone with knowledge of the patient. However, she says it doesn’t work the same in the emergency room.
There, she says, a physician is more likely to say they’ll start the medicine and get them to follow up later. If that person has nowhere to go, and no follow-up arrangements possible, they’ll likely be admitted.
Dr. Fitzgerald says that leads to additional backup in the system, and the overtime can stack up the costs of care for patients who have to be admitted, as well as the system.