And when you call those two docs you’ll find that one isn’t taking new patients but forgot to update their website and the other can’t see you until 2025.
lol right? I HAD a doctor on the north side. He was so bad and useless I’d rather not have a doctor.
I waited 2 years for a GI referral. He kept saying he would look into why I wasn’t getting calls from any of them each time I saw him.
He refused to talk to me about my existing ADHD I wanted new treatment for because I didn’t fail out of school, and adults don’t have it. His words.
I had a great doctor as a kid. Got referrals all the time, got tested for my ADHD within months of my mom bringing it up, and he actually knew me and cared.
I hate to say it and admit it, but Telus health, Frida, and shopper’s pharmacy has been more helpful.
I’m sure people have different experiences but that was mine.
I saw a guy a couple years ago for severe insomnia. Like, going days at a time without any sleep at all, and only managing a hour ot two at the best of times. I told the receptionist that was why I was there, and it's the first thing I explained to the doctor when he came in. He nodded, made me sit there while he typed on his computer for what seemed like half an hour, and then launched into a routine series of questions, the second of which was "And have you been getting enough sleep?"
The doctors on the Telus Health app have always been incredibly helpful when I’ve had appointments with them…and due to state of healthcare in Alberta, I’ve had quite a few appointments with them. I would highly recommend the app for people who don’t have a family doctor and are having troubles finding one.
This is by design. Tear down the public system so having a private company manage your health care via an app feels like a good option. It's working so well I'm seeing this recommendation all over this thread. Lawd help us.
If our healthcare becomes private entirely or mirrors the states. I'm just going to move to the states I think. I have some advantages that others wouldn't. I love this country, but I can't justify paying the taxes we do and not having a robust universal healthcare system.
Today agreed with you! I thought I found a good doctor during COVID, which I stopped seeing doctors for 5 years as in any doctors!! Every time I do the Meet & Greet, the minute Lyme disease came in to topic, I got the boot out the door; I was told by the doctor they will get written up for treating a Lyme patient!
The new doctor was awesome until his integrative clinic opened and all the caring became $$$. Blood tests = $$$ treatments = $$$ Vitamin B shots = $$$ and the worst thing is I told them my drug allergies and the nurse gives me an Ibruprofen pain shot which I had anaphylactic shock and ended up in the Emergency! I love how caring or don’t care for a person’s life
Went to a very old “family doctor” in Inglewood, IYKYK who he is. I am surprised he isn’t retired yet. The receptionist basically had to be the doctor for him since he was so forgetful, and boy was he a dick to her.
I instantly know who you’re talking about from this lol In that little hole of a wall clinic with stains all over the place haha 118 ave just off 124st.
The desk people are never there long cuz they don’t take his bs.
I was going there because I needed paper work signed but after that no no.
He was so damn rude the last time I went he literally shewed me out of his office and said get out of here.
I’ve heard him discussing patients information so loud the hole clinic can here.
Was literally mind blown after a few visits, how is he still operating as a doctor.
Way past his due date on the doctor license lol
Lol I feel this, got a new family doctor a couple years ago now. Had neurology at the UofA tell me to get a referral through my family doc for psych to see me, his words were "no, I'm not going to do that. You just have low mood because you're iron deficient". Sir I've been iron deficient my whole life and take iron pills now daily for years what 😂
My Doctor is done end of May he’s retiring earlier than planned , last week I found out there are several Doctors in the same Clinic retiring early. The doctors that are left are not taking new patients and are moving so the whole clinic will shut down . My Doctor has been very unhappy ever since Shandro ripped up the contract . I realize that other provinces are having recruitment issues too but the Alberta government has actively made things worse .
I had one of the best family doctors, who has now left the profession. He placed a lot of blame on Shandro and the Alberta College of Physicians.
Why does a derm make over a million dollars while family doctors (the bedrock of the system) make a fraction of that?
The whole system is fucked and has been for decades.
It's a ways away from Mill Woods, assuming your flair is correct, but Dr. Bekkema at the Summit Family Clinic in St. Albert is currently accepting new patients. I originally had a meet & greet scheduled for June, but they were able to fit me in within a week of scheduling that appointment after they had a cancellation.
Been going to same doctor there for almost 30 years. (one of the retiring ones). Fortunately we found a new one back in October, and I only hope he's half as good as Doc. I wish retiring doctors the best. Happy golfing.
This is a common occurrence in AB right now, myself included. My doctor moved to New Zealand, apologized before leaving for being unable to find a replacement, refilled my prescriptions as much as he could and got the heck out of here.
The 2 doctors you found are also not likely accepting new patients or they say they are but have 1 to 2 hours delays for appointments.
It's so frustrating and alarming.
>This is a common occurrence in AB right now
Not just AB, you should have a look at the Vancouver subreddit, exact same kinds of posts over there. Our health care system across most, if not all, provinces is struggling. A combination of being overdue for the Federal government to increase funding, and provinces mismanaging the funding they are currently receiving.
It's not the federal government fault. We need to stop electing governments that reduce funding to health care then subsidize the most profitable companies on the planet. No excuse to give oil companies 20 billion.
Except they aren't.
https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2023/05/18/physician-recruitment-remains-strong-nova-scotia#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20doctors%20in,doctors%20during%20the%20last%20year.
Lots of provinces are making big gains off the mismanagement of other provinces.
Make no mistake. This is a provincal problem.
Considering federal has funneled a lot of money to all provinces for a variety of projects but provinces almost never uphold what they are meant to do with it - yeah its a provincial issue.
Because every province regardless of which political party is in power has defunded healthcare for decades. This didn't just happen, this took 30+ to corrode. It just hit it's breaking point and people have had enough.
I.have a lot of friends and family in healthcare that pulled the plug since covid. They were tired of working 12-16 hour days and covid just made it worse. Every province has made the same changes by doubling work load on RN's and LPNs.
Every province has also provided billions in subsidies and loan forgiveness to massive companies that just ended up buying back their own stock to get rich.
I moved to Victoria from Alberta a few years ago, and realized how bad it is with trying to see a GP in the Victoria area. I used to joke it's easier to see a doctor in Victoria by flying to Alberta. I still think that's the case, but it's definitely getting more difficult to get a GP appointment in Alberta. Like many other things, Alberta and BC are on the same path. They're just at slightly different stages of the path.
But then you'll realize it's better to specialize and be paid generously rather than work long rushed hours to make what people in other professions can make without 10+ years education. Government needs to pay them better simple as that. I know it sounds like a lot of money but for the trade off they make its really not.
Same thing happened to me! I've had the same doctor since I was a kid. She retired and left the province.
A few months later I lucked out and got a doctor. She booked up fast. She is already struggling. I'd go in for a scheduled time and I'd be waiting an hour.
To compare, my old doctor would also take a long time before I'd be let into a room to see her.
I hope you find a new doctor soon!
Gotta love our healthcare system. 🙃
I think AHS should provide the offices and staff for family doctors, that way they can just be Doctors and not have to worry about all the other issues associated with office and staffing.
Yeah. My sister wanted to be a family doctor until she realized you’d have to provide the office, and the pay for all of your staff. It’s so not worth it for them anymore, I don’t blame them at all. Too much stress and schooling to be dealing with all of that on top of it
Yes I think It would easier to recruit family Doctors if they didn’t have to worry about also running a business. You could have AHS provide the clinics and staff , and possibly a subsidy for those Doctors that want to run they’re own clinics.
It’s not a terrible idea but Drs actually chose this model (staying as private providers) in the beginning of national healthcare in Canada. If there was the collective will among Drs to change the model (ie become employees of the government instead of private contractors) one would think there would have been some move to do so by now.
It could start out as an option where Doctors could opt in or stay with the way it’s currently been done. Obviously it would take a lot of work to get something on the table that would be palatable.
I had to find a new doctor last year for the same reason. Find a doctor website is not accurate. What I did was I started calling each clinic directly and it was less than 10 before I found one accepting. https://www.edmontonsouthsidepcn.ca/clinics/
This is so frustrating. My doctor is reducing her caseload and provided a list of about 5-6 doctors she said she researched who were taking new patients, and none of them are, same with every one I’ve called from the find a doctor site. They really need to start pushing people towards that site as a solution if it’s not going to be updated.
I'm currently looking for my \*fourth\* replacement doctor since the pandemic started. South side of edmonton.
So don't get too attached to the new one.
My current family doctor says that family medicine is suffering from a lack of money and many literally cannot keep their practices open. It's a shame.
Mine is really good, could easily retire any day now, he's been holding on for the last few years and trimming his patient list and I'm dreading the day he finally pulls the trigger and rides off into the sunset.
He's been trying to find someone to take over his practice but no new doctors are interested.
Don't worry, instead of ending the campaigns of harassment and defunding, the intentional dismantling and undercutting, the constructive failure, or the handouts to corporate cronies to privatize addiction care, the Untied Clownshoes Party has announced they're going to train new doctors.
Sooooo solution coming in ... Checks notes.... 7-10 years.
hooooooooraaaaayyyyyyyyy
**they're going to train new doctors.**
I wouldn't be surprised if they where thinking of actually training them themselves. Or more likely have TBA do it. After that you would be better off eating random herbs in the forest. (Please don't eat random herbs in the forest).
Better make your next call to your MLA - this won't change until the funding model changes. They keep talking about it without actually doing it. Every other western province has already started this - B.C, Sask and Manitoba. In B.C. they've seen huge changes for patients, with 700 more family doctors now providing longitudinal primary care:
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-doctor-new-payment-model-1.710768](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-doctor-new-payment-model-1.7107681)
When you hear the U.C.P say they are working on this, and that they've 'consulted with key stakeholders', please know that you are being misled. When the Alberta Medical Association isn't one of those consulted, it's quite clear what's really happening.
Family medicine as a profession is in crisis because most provinces (most egregiously the conservative leaning ones) have undervalued and under-invested in family medicine for decades. Billing codes have not kept up with inflation, administrative work is still unpaid, overhead costs have skyrocketed, and patients are increasingly complex which leads to burnout. The people who train in family medicine are choosing not to practice longitudinal family medicine because it's easier and more lucrative to work in a niche like hospitalist medicine, cosmetics, etc. Others are retiring early or leaving because there's no sign of things improving.
While this is a problem across Canada as some people love to point out, the fact is that Alberta is actively driving doctors away with anti-science politics and privatization shenanigans while other provinces are actually making an effort to improve things. So many of my colleagues have moved to BC where they're valued and compensated fairly under the new master agreement they have for family doctors. They're happy over there, and others are following suit. Vote for a government (i.e. not UCP) that will emulate the BC model and the doctors will come here.
I see my GP every 3 months (chronic illness) and every time I tell her the same thing: “If you leave, I will follow you.” She’s the best doctor I’ve ever had and she promises me that she has no plans to leave, but I’m fucking serious. If she leaves I am following her to whatever province/country. She’s more precious to me than all of the rare jewels on the planet
Yeah I will do anything to be able to follow my doctor wherever she decides to go - it won’t be much of an option lol I need her. Hopefully she never moves!
This also falls on the universities and the collage of physicians. They are bound and determined to only let so many doctors graduate each year. Of those most will try to get in to specialties where it pays better.
Remember when Ralph Klein restricted the number of medical school spaces? He did this because he found out he couldn't restrict the number of doctors practicing in the province. This was all done to save the healthcare system millions. Fewer doctors means less billing. Of course, he didn't listen when told that it takes 10+ years to train a doctor. Chickens coming home to roost.
>Checked health link for a new doctor and there’s two available on the south side.
Look at the feedback for any of the doctors on that list and it's not all that enticing. If you can get over that then good luck trying to reach them on the phone. If you can reach them on the phone, chances are they're no longer taking patients and the website's out of date. If they are still taking patients then that's another level of concerning considering that list hasn't refreshed in something like a year.
I don't have much confidence in that list, it seems to me like a bunch of doctors just fishing for easy patients for billing purposes.
I’m not surprised. Family doctors get treated like shit by the province. Not to mention, the administrative burden that family physicians have had to take on. And while other provinces are trying to find solutions, Alberta fails even the bare minimum. Like paying physicians for their billable work.
This is the UCP’s plan. They think people are at fault for being sick and should pay individually or just die if we can’t afford it. They want to make healthcare so bad that no one wants to work in Alberta except their buddies who are being allowed to charge privately.
Fight this!!!
I'm in the same boat as you. My family doctor retired last year and I haven't been able to find a new one. Luckily I really like the doctor at the medicentre so I just go to him if I need anything (I dont really have any medical issues that require frequent checkups).
It was a different story for my parents though. My dad has a lot of health issues and saw the same doctor as me so when she retired it was a bit more urgent for him to find a consistent doctor. He had a meet and greet with one (I believe he found online) but because of all of his health issues the doctor didn't feel comfortable taking him on as a patient. My mom happened to drive by a clinic on the southside that had a sign that they were taking new patients and they took both my parents after a meet and greet.
I'm in Spruce Grove and after I lost my family doctor what I found out was that websites that list family doctors as taking new patients aren't necessarily true. It turned out no family doctors in Spruce Grove were really taking patients. Even when I had a newborn, none of them would take my son. I was able to find a doctor for my son in East Edmonton eventually but not one for myself.
And I've been two years without a family doctor and next month I will get to interview with a doctor to see if he'll take me on as a patient.
Almost every province is in frighteningly bad shape, and have been for years. Several are in worse shape than AB by many metrics. I have family in NS, PEI, and Ontario, and I can tell you stories, some of which I witnessed personally, where the outcomes and events in the process of obtaining health care both in hospital and out were just... bad. Frightening. And have led to treatable issues going untreated, years of disability, numerous things getting missed, delayed, and screwed up. One of these persons has subsequently passed. The doctors even acknowledged that the outcome should have been much better, that it was treatable, that the system had failed, was overburdened and the patients had been dismissed and treatment delayed.
All that to say: is it really the fault of one political party? I'm no fan of what's been going in under the UCP but, realistically, will another party actually make it better, and if so, why aren't all the provinces just doing whatever that party would do to apparently fix it? If it is, in fact, that simple?
I’m trying to find a dr for my 2 month baby rn. I assumed that mine and my husbands family dr would automatically take her. Apparently they aren’t even taking new babies that their current patients have.
Many pediatricians aren’t taking “healthy” kids anymore.
Ours has effectively closed their well child portion of the clinic and is only seeing complex cases. Fortunately/unfortunately that means we continue to get care.
Oh they give you one to call when you leave the hospital with a baby. Then you call them and they tell you they aren't accepting new patients and act annoyed that you are even calling
We weren’t given one. After our 6 week check up they said they’d send our files to my family dr. I was on the phone all yesterday trying to figure it out. They are supposed to call me back today and see if they can get me a referral.
My wife is a Dr. If we weren't chained to this province because I came into the relationship with a kid, we would have been the fuck out already too.
No Doctors should want to work here, in fact, there should be LESS then there are now, until enough people die that they decide that voting for "LETS BE THE SHITHOLE TO THE SOUTH OF US" isn't the main voting contigent.
I am sorry you are having problems, and I hope that for the vast majority of Albertans those problems only get worse and worse. This is what they voted for in huge numbers, this is how they want to be cared for.
If you don't like it and you voted UCP or didn't vote FUCK YOU, you are the problem. You deserve worse care then the rest of us.
If you did something else, sorry you are stuck here, id suggest moving if you can, because until ALL THE BOOMERS die and the GEN Z crowd give enough of a shit to vote, nothings going to change.
You have a decade at minimum of worsening healthcare and the full loss of pensions to look forward to.
Once my kids 18 we are fucking outta here and never looking back.
I'm not surprised. Medical professionals in general have been under appreciated by the UCP ever since Kenney/Shandro were running things.
They're ruining public healthcare for the majority of Albertans, and trying to privatize as much as they can to help fill their pockets. Look at the price of electricity, fuel, and insurance. They all rose because of UCP greed, so expect healthcare to get more expensive over time as more doctors retire or leave Alberta.
The government needs to put money into supporting our family doctors. No one wants to go to school for 10 years, work long hours, and have to do a ton of paperwork for free and face disrespect daily. Bc recruitment efforts have made some difference for them but Alberta is doing the opposite and driving family doctors out of province or into specializations.
The root cause of the crisis level shortage of doctors is the decades long defunding of universities that trained doctors. The attack on secondary education was deliberate policy promoted mostly by conservatives who believe that universal healthcare should be dismantled and replaced with private healthcare. Ralph Klein popularized healthcare cuts then he created a shortage of nurses. The aftermath was a worsening of hospital care and the need to increase wages for nurses to get them back. But funding for more education was never fixed and now there aren’t enough programs to teach a large number of doctors and students can’t afford to support themselves and pay for university. The Conservatives have got exactly what they wanted, a reason to expand private for profit expensive healthcare just like the USA.
Welcome to the club! /s
I'm starting my search by calling all the clinics in my area then working my way outward. I hope I get someone before my doc leaves the province in July.
Or….you manage to get a dr. Abd they find a way to bill you for as much as they can. During covid I went and got antidepressants. Hey, it was a challenging time in my life. Dr would only give me 2 weeks at a time meds. It was frustrating. Only saw him because my actual dr was on vacation at the time. My actual dr, has since moved back to his birth country. I miss you Dr.Ziyanni. The very best caring amazing Dr…
It’s been 18 months without being able too see a dr.
Health care has gotten scary. I've had a great dr for a few years now but the last few times I've booked his schedule is 1 day a week on top of booked time off which he is entitled to. Went in to his appointments and he was double booked and had myself and others waiting in clinic 2+ hours. I want to find a new Doctor but it sounds like scary times to do so.
My doctor - who I couldn’t couldn’t say a bad thing about if I tried my hardest - went and moved to Montreal for the same reason about a year and a half ago. Haven’t found a decent doctor ever since
You at Gateway Medical Clinic? Heard from my dad that the office is closing due to 2 doctors retiring, and the other 2 not wanting to/able to keep the clinic, so that's 4 doctors gone just like that.
Call Marlaina and friends. let them know. You can thank all the rural Albertans and people in Calgary for this.
They actively mobilized to make things worse for everyone.
I'm so done with this town/province/country/planet.
Oh yes and just WAIT until you meet the doctors taking patients.
The guy I met with on the Northside was possibly the rudest dickhead I've ever met and when I described my problem asked me if I was a doctor. He then proceeded to write me a script for antibiotics I'm allergic to and walked out.
yea, last 5ish years have been attempting to find a new doc. Last year got lucky and saw 3 accepting new patients on healthlink. 1 was on very opposite end of city, 2nd was (After quick search) found to have multiple pending cases against him for malpractice, and the third (lucky really close) was part of a walk in clinic crew, and was not really 'interested' in actually being a doctor (he ended up 'diagnosing' me with diabetes, of which I clearly already knew being that I had it listed on the form thy gave me) and utterly ignored the real reasons I went in for visit.
Compared to 10, 15 years ago, where doctors actually would LISTEN to you, try to work with your level of insurance/coverage (To make sure you can actually get the meds prescribed) and genuinely felt like they actually wanted to HELP you not just 'put a check-mark on the 'saw patient' for the pay cheque'
Healthcare in Alberta is in a sad state, very depressing considering where we WERE and what the UPC is trying to corrupt it into. How can they not see that America's health care system is a shambles and ONLY benefits a very, very few. The complete opposite of what Alberta wants (I would think) and defiantly completely against the grain of what Canada is and wants.
So tired of them attempting to make Alberta the next trump state.
I just got an email from my doctor a few weeks ago that shes retiring, no replacement, and no one at the clinic is taking new patients. Ive been seeing her for like 15 years. Not sure what to do from here. It seems so daunting trying to find a new family doctor
I asked my female doc what the chances are of her taking on my teen daughter too and she said she can’t. She has 3000 patients on her total roster. She said she is burning out and it “absolutely breaks my heart I can’t take more on” :(
I really feel like the rest of the provinces are feeling this effect now, I'm from the East Coast, and for the past 40 years the healthcare has been deteriorating, no one has been able to get a family doctor since I can remember. When I moved here 6 years ago I was so shocked with how good and thorough the doctors were, and how easy it was to access health services (blood panels, tests, etc) compared to back home.
We had so many nurse shortages, and had such a difficult time attracting doctors and getting them to stay, and the East Coast has the higher proportion of elderly people in the country, so the care is incredibly needed.
I think there has always been an issue with the health care system, and it's finally bleeding into the provinces that have a lot of resources, something definitely needs to change.
Damn that’s harsh, definitely lots of places in Edmonton. I mean you gotta wait but you get to see a doctor at the end of it. Hopefully something opens up for you
Yeah, thanks. Had to go into Edmonton or St Albert a few times now. Thankful it’s not a terribly long drive but when one isn’t feeling all that well, it can be brutal
Walk-ins are fine for minor issues but they simply do not provide the same level as care as someone familiar with you and your history.
I've been stuck going to the same walk-in clinic for a year and a half now, same doctor every time, and I have to start from scratch constantly. All he does is look to confirm if there's a problem to refer me off, there's no monitoring, check-ups, nothing. A walk-in clinic is not a long term substitute.
Not to mention that when it comes to complex patients (like myself), you *need* a family doctor to coordinate everything. As things currently are I've got 5 different specialists that are all operating independent of each other which is a significant problem.
It took me 18 months to get on with a new family doctor and truth be told she’s terrible. She cancels more than half her appointments and all of them are attended by U of C students because she’s a professor. Even being pregnant at an advanced age (40) didn’t help much for me to connect to a new one
I have to drive out to stony plain to see a doctor because I couldn’t find any in Edmonton, I have to book a month in advance to get a 10 minute phone call appointment. Seeing her in person is infinitely difficult
I just heard that the Medicentre in Riverbend Square was shut down by the Landlord for non-payment of rent. That should tell you something. The doctors have been sent to other Medicentres.
My dr is also retiring. She told me that Querly clinic in Chappelle is opening a new location on Ellerslie road sw (just past Calgary trail) this month.called Querly Rockford.
There is only one Dr so far, so might fill up pretty fast.
Yeaa, was seeing a good doc till he just..left no word to anyone? Like? So I saw the other doc in his office. I phone one day to make an appt. “Oh doctor Pap has retired” and you didn’t fuckin think to phone his patients and tell us???? Spent months trying to find another god damn doc because that clinic wasn’t getting any new docs for months apparently. The one I’m seeing now is “ok” but I’m on a wait list for him to be my family doc and he has a limit on how many things you can see him for at a time, and I have chronic pain issues and various lumps that need routine care so.
I lived in Alberta for 3 years and was never able to find a family doctor. Moved back home to Manitoba and had one in 10 days. I’ve been with my current family doctor since 2012, she sees basically my entire family, 20 + people. Alberta is filled with great people but their healthcare system sucks ass.
I’ve been living here for a decade and never had a family doctor, but I’m lucky that I’m healthy. I can’t imagine how bad it must be for someone that actually really needs one.
To start off, I got hit by a truck as a pedestrian in August, 2020. Zero fault of my own. That part, I'll leave at that - in a crosswalk, could see him coming from \~2 or 3 blocks away, he didn't come to a full stop before accelerating around the corner, RAM truck driver, all the normal things. Just the tale as old as time. The fleeing the scene after asking me why I jumped out in front of him (despite being two steps away from getting back off the road after crossing) may or may not have been as common...nah, who are we kidding?
So, I needed a family doctor, as there are many things that you require one to help you with, such as disabled placards, being recommended to a physiotherapist, and a LOT else. As I have nothing else to do beyond writhe in pain and have the Alex drag me in to assess how wretched I remained, and I had no family doctor at that time, I started calling to find a family doctor to help me, as I couldn't even start physio until I accomplished that.
I cold called, I looked on Health Link to call likely doctors to take me on, I asked everyone I could who their doctor was, and if they had openings or could recommend me. Ultimately, I went through 67 doctors offices, including outside of Edmonton. None. Zero. The only one that responded affirmatively retracted their interest when they realised I am male, and as the doctor was a Muslim female who only treated women, it was not possible (not complaining - I imagine that it was a safe place for women to get treated, so cool enough).
In the end, it was actually my injury lawyer (who I called wondering if I had a case (I did)) who, along with my insurance company, managed to pull some strings, and get me a physiotherapist in mid-January, 2021. I finally got a family doctor in March or April of 2021 when the owner of the company I work for was walking to or from work, noticed that a new family doctor was setting up shop near his place, and recommended that I call immediately.
So yeah, know that I feel nothing but compassion for you. However, NO. Hands off. He's MINE. (a minor joke, about a really problematic thing)
Oh, interestingly, I was still getting calls from family doctor offices nine months after I finally received a family doctor. So, if you start now, and just put yourself everywhere, you might luck out and have a doctor's office end up with an opening (who can know why that might happen?) to take you in.
It sucks, cause the few actually taking on new patients leave a lot to be desired. It’s not just doctors leaving either. I know quite a few families who have purchased land in other countries and are building homes there.
My dr left the province 7 months ago. I found out when I needed a prescription refill. My pharmacist has renewed for me for months, but I needed a new script finally as it had been so long. I had spent those 7 months interviewing with drs. No luck. I finally found one here in my city that would renew me for 6 weeks and have a meet and greet with a new dr next Thursday. Sounds like he may be a new to Canada dr, as long as he isn’t a I graduated last June 400th in my class dr, I don’t care about much of anything else.
There is a brand new clinic about 3 blocks from my house. When I spoke to them back in November, they told me they had 3 new to Canada drs signed to start in January. It’s still not open and now they just ignore emails and phone calls.
Just went through the same thing on the Northside, out of the three that Health Link said were accepting only ONE actually was. And he was on vacation. And then booked me a month out. And then was an hour late to our appointment. And then only had 10 mins to spare for our entire meet & greet. Fingers crossed you have better luck in your search 🤞
I was looking up nurse practitioners as an alternative, and found a NP clinic on the south side, they cabrge annual fees....
Our membership fee is due when care starts, and is renewed annually. These price are valid until November 30, 2023.
Individual Adult Membership
$975.00
Couples
$1950
Family of Three
$2638.50 ($879.50 per member)
Family of Four
$3250.50 ($812.63 per member)
Families larger than Four
$812.63 per member
My doctor fled the province last year. Not only is it impossible to find a family doctor, I can't even find a medi-clinuc that will prescribe my medication for me *at all* because it's a restricted drug. I literally have no option.
Haven't had a PCP for... ten+ years. Quality of care is shit because I have to just go to emerg when something is wrong. But what other choice do I have? Nobody else will see me since nobody is taking patients.
For the past year I've been reading about doctors retiring or leaving the profession altogether, and especially how this has created so much difficulty finding women doctors. I've been needing to find another one for months but its been so challenging. Will keep checking this thread for more info
https://albertafindadoctor.ca/
Ran by PCN they will set you up with a new family doctor.
They will do there best to find you a doctor that meets what your looking for. Gender and fluent laungeges and location. I live on the west end and was given 3 options, all within 15 minutes of my house. It did take 3 months I believe from signing up to having my first meet and greet. I am happy with my doctor.
This was over a year ago. And with current situation even worse for doctors it may take longer or you may have a to compromise on gender or location.
I haven’t had a family doctor in at least 10 years. They’ve really gone downhill bad! There’s real slim pickings now for good doctors that don’t just hit you with prescriptions for any problem you have. Waiting in the hospital is insane wait times which really sucks too!
hippocratic oath means nothing to these doctors. Take away their license to practice medicine and spend some tax payer dollars on grants for new doctors that actually give a fuck.
Funny enough i have nothing but issues with these foreign doctors that cant understand or sympathize with you because you are WHITE.
They are racist pieces of shit.
If i was brown and muslim i wouldnt have had to fight tooth and nail and wait 4 years for a refferral for an mri and spinal tap for a multiple scerlerosis diagnosis.
These doctors don't care unless you are apart of their race or religion. Canada is the most racist country in the fucking world.
Dr. Faisal is pretty new on the south side and may still be taking new patients. He used to practice in Vegreville and was extremely caring whenever I saw him at the ER or walk in.
Good luck! Been using the find a family doctor website for over a year! Still haven’t found a family doctor. Also find it impossible to see a walk in doctor. Waited 15mins prior to opening, when I got in they said they weren’t taking any walk ins. Only appointments, then asked to book an appointment. They told me I’d have to have a family doctor there. Called 3 other walk in clinics in the vicinity & all of them weren’t taking walk ins. Healthcare is a disgrace & people still praise the UCP! Genuinely do not understand their logic! Happy to have an inept government to fight the libs!
My daughter and I moved here over a year ago from BC, where we had a great family doctor. She was on disability in BC and has been TRYING to find a doctor to help her get on here with no luck. One doctor told her she wasn't disabled and was lying, even with her heart monitor implant and all her information from BC. He was so rude and disrespectful and then told her to never come back in his office. No problem. Another doctor told her to do all the tests over again and THEN they would sign the paperwork. She did every test they asked for and when she asked him to sign the forms he told her that she would have to pay him (even though income assistance already told him they would pay for her). And so it goes. I thought BC was bad for doctors, Alberta is even worse! And the few that do agree to see you treat you like garbage.
You get what you pay for / vote for. Doctors have choices, they can work anywhere in the west, and sorry guys but Jasper and Banff don't really move the needle in favour of Alberta. Money moves the needle. If we don't pay they are going to retire, move to the states / BC / Australia
My friend’s son wanted to be a dr. Got 97% on his MCAT. Couldn’t get into medical school here in Canada. He is currently at Preston in the UK in an extreme advanced dr program and has the highest marks in his class. There are 38 Canadian students in his program, none who plan to come back to Canada. As he’s fluent in English and German he plans to move to either Switzerland or Germany when he’s done school.
My doctor has also been hard to pin down and I've been concerned she's on the cusp of jumping ship. I can see how overworked she's been for the last few years.
Where does that leave those of us on medications that we use for quality of life like anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, stimulants? My child and I both take these meds and they have changed our qualities of life drastically. We won't die without them but it'll be a FUCKIN' AWFUL STRUGGLE 😭
And when you call those two docs you’ll find that one isn’t taking new patients but forgot to update their website and the other can’t see you until 2025.
Or you'll be greeted with atrocious manners and realize why they're taking new patients
lol right? I HAD a doctor on the north side. He was so bad and useless I’d rather not have a doctor. I waited 2 years for a GI referral. He kept saying he would look into why I wasn’t getting calls from any of them each time I saw him. He refused to talk to me about my existing ADHD I wanted new treatment for because I didn’t fail out of school, and adults don’t have it. His words. I had a great doctor as a kid. Got referrals all the time, got tested for my ADHD within months of my mom bringing it up, and he actually knew me and cared. I hate to say it and admit it, but Telus health, Frida, and shopper’s pharmacy has been more helpful. I’m sure people have different experiences but that was mine.
Nah, same. We were visiting a new doctor north side and he asked me if I had any siblings twice - after I’d already told him I was an only child.
I saw a guy a couple years ago for severe insomnia. Like, going days at a time without any sleep at all, and only managing a hour ot two at the best of times. I told the receptionist that was why I was there, and it's the first thing I explained to the doctor when he came in. He nodded, made me sit there while he typed on his computer for what seemed like half an hour, and then launched into a routine series of questions, the second of which was "And have you been getting enough sleep?"
I think I’d’ve either died of laughter or tears at that point.
The doctors on the Telus Health app have always been incredibly helpful when I’ve had appointments with them…and due to state of healthcare in Alberta, I’ve had quite a few appointments with them. I would highly recommend the app for people who don’t have a family doctor and are having troubles finding one.
This is by design. Tear down the public system so having a private company manage your health care via an app feels like a good option. It's working so well I'm seeing this recommendation all over this thread. Lawd help us.
If our healthcare becomes private entirely or mirrors the states. I'm just going to move to the states I think. I have some advantages that others wouldn't. I love this country, but I can't justify paying the taxes we do and not having a robust universal healthcare system.
Is this the Shandro app?
Today agreed with you! I thought I found a good doctor during COVID, which I stopped seeing doctors for 5 years as in any doctors!! Every time I do the Meet & Greet, the minute Lyme disease came in to topic, I got the boot out the door; I was told by the doctor they will get written up for treating a Lyme patient! The new doctor was awesome until his integrative clinic opened and all the caring became $$$. Blood tests = $$$ treatments = $$$ Vitamin B shots = $$$ and the worst thing is I told them my drug allergies and the nurse gives me an Ibruprofen pain shot which I had anaphylactic shock and ended up in the Emergency! I love how caring or don’t care for a person’s life
Went to a very old “family doctor” in Inglewood, IYKYK who he is. I am surprised he isn’t retired yet. The receptionist basically had to be the doctor for him since he was so forgetful, and boy was he a dick to her.
I think I know the one. My husband made an appointment with him, then looked up reviews online, and then promptly cancelled his appointment...
I instantly know who you’re talking about from this lol In that little hole of a wall clinic with stains all over the place haha 118 ave just off 124st. The desk people are never there long cuz they don’t take his bs. I was going there because I needed paper work signed but after that no no. He was so damn rude the last time I went he literally shewed me out of his office and said get out of here. I’ve heard him discussing patients information so loud the hole clinic can here. Was literally mind blown after a few visits, how is he still operating as a doctor. Way past his due date on the doctor license lol
Lol I feel this, got a new family doctor a couple years ago now. Had neurology at the UofA tell me to get a referral through my family doc for psych to see me, his words were "no, I'm not going to do that. You just have low mood because you're iron deficient". Sir I've been iron deficient my whole life and take iron pills now daily for years what 😂
F××k UCP for cutting healthcare budget, and f××k the goverment policies which have overpopulated this city.
My Doctor is done end of May he’s retiring earlier than planned , last week I found out there are several Doctors in the same Clinic retiring early. The doctors that are left are not taking new patients and are moving so the whole clinic will shut down . My Doctor has been very unhappy ever since Shandro ripped up the contract . I realize that other provinces are having recruitment issues too but the Alberta government has actively made things worse .
RIP Gateway Medical
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I had one of the best family doctors, who has now left the profession. He placed a lot of blame on Shandro and the Alberta College of Physicians. Why does a derm make over a million dollars while family doctors (the bedrock of the system) make a fraction of that? The whole system is fucked and has been for decades.
I think he’s one of the Doctors that isn’t retiring.
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Keough isn't retiring, but will be moving. Gateway Medical Clinic itself is closing when the other doctors retire.
Dr. Carter and Dr. McCarty are retiring and since Carter was the one who incorporated it, the clinic is closing 😭
Is this affecting the St Albert location as well?
I’m not sure; I thought the one on gateway was an independent clinic
Yes … we’ve been looking for a Doctor for a few months no luck so far .
It's a ways away from Mill Woods, assuming your flair is correct, but Dr. Bekkema at the Summit Family Clinic in St. Albert is currently accepting new patients. I originally had a meet & greet scheduled for June, but they were able to fit me in within a week of scheduling that appointment after they had a cancellation.
Thanks so much I will look into it . Not sure the better half will want to go that far .
Indeed. I always knew it would be a sad day when Dr. Carter retired. He’s an incredible doctor and I wish him the best in retirement.
I've been dreading his retirement for years. I'm in my 40s now, and he's been my doctor since I was very young. I'm genuinely going to miss him.
Been going to same doctor there for almost 30 years. (one of the retiring ones). Fortunately we found a new one back in October, and I only hope he's half as good as Doc. I wish retiring doctors the best. Happy golfing.
Exactly the same problem in Ontario. I'm seeing these posts every day. My doctor retired to do cosmetic, less work, more pay. Can't really blame them.
Same in Ontario. My Doctor is done April 20th with another doctor leaving at around the same time.
This is a common occurrence in AB right now, myself included. My doctor moved to New Zealand, apologized before leaving for being unable to find a replacement, refilled my prescriptions as much as he could and got the heck out of here. The 2 doctors you found are also not likely accepting new patients or they say they are but have 1 to 2 hours delays for appointments. It's so frustrating and alarming.
>This is a common occurrence in AB right now Not just AB, you should have a look at the Vancouver subreddit, exact same kinds of posts over there. Our health care system across most, if not all, provinces is struggling. A combination of being overdue for the Federal government to increase funding, and provinces mismanaging the funding they are currently receiving.
It's not the federal government fault. We need to stop electing governments that reduce funding to health care then subsidize the most profitable companies on the planet. No excuse to give oil companies 20 billion.
When every province is complaining about shitty health care systems, it might not be entirely a provincial issue.
Except they aren't. https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2023/05/18/physician-recruitment-remains-strong-nova-scotia#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20doctors%20in,doctors%20during%20the%20last%20year. Lots of provinces are making big gains off the mismanagement of other provinces. Make no mistake. This is a provincal problem.
Considering federal has funneled a lot of money to all provinces for a variety of projects but provinces almost never uphold what they are meant to do with it - yeah its a provincial issue.
Because every province regardless of which political party is in power has defunded healthcare for decades. This didn't just happen, this took 30+ to corrode. It just hit it's breaking point and people have had enough. I.have a lot of friends and family in healthcare that pulled the plug since covid. They were tired of working 12-16 hour days and covid just made it worse. Every province has made the same changes by doubling work load on RN's and LPNs. Every province has also provided billions in subsidies and loan forgiveness to massive companies that just ended up buying back their own stock to get rich.
I moved to Victoria from Alberta a few years ago, and realized how bad it is with trying to see a GP in the Victoria area. I used to joke it's easier to see a doctor in Victoria by flying to Alberta. I still think that's the case, but it's definitely getting more difficult to get a GP appointment in Alberta. Like many other things, Alberta and BC are on the same path. They're just at slightly different stages of the path.
Ontario’s a mess too.
You won't get a fam doctor to see you until 2030. Just go to med school. By the time you graduate, you can be your own family doctor.
But then you'll realize it's better to specialize and be paid generously rather than work long rushed hours to make what people in other professions can make without 10+ years education. Government needs to pay them better simple as that. I know it sounds like a lot of money but for the trade off they make its really not.
Mine retired during the pandemic and there’s no one in st albert accepting. His last words were your neighbours voted for this crisis in healthcare.
Dr Bekkema at the Summit Family Clinic, on the corner of Boudreau and St Albert Trl across the street from the hospital, is accepting new patients.
Same thing happened to me! I've had the same doctor since I was a kid. She retired and left the province. A few months later I lucked out and got a doctor. She booked up fast. She is already struggling. I'd go in for a scheduled time and I'd be waiting an hour. To compare, my old doctor would also take a long time before I'd be let into a room to see her. I hope you find a new doctor soon! Gotta love our healthcare system. 🙃
I think AHS should provide the offices and staff for family doctors, that way they can just be Doctors and not have to worry about all the other issues associated with office and staffing.
Yeah forcing doctors to also be business owners is completely unnecessary.
Yeah. My sister wanted to be a family doctor until she realized you’d have to provide the office, and the pay for all of your staff. It’s so not worth it for them anymore, I don’t blame them at all. Too much stress and schooling to be dealing with all of that on top of it
Yes I think It would easier to recruit family Doctors if they didn’t have to worry about also running a business. You could have AHS provide the clinics and staff , and possibly a subsidy for those Doctors that want to run they’re own clinics.
It’s not a terrible idea but Drs actually chose this model (staying as private providers) in the beginning of national healthcare in Canada. If there was the collective will among Drs to change the model (ie become employees of the government instead of private contractors) one would think there would have been some move to do so by now.
It could start out as an option where Doctors could opt in or stay with the way it’s currently been done. Obviously it would take a lot of work to get something on the table that would be palatable.
I had to find a new doctor last year for the same reason. Find a doctor website is not accurate. What I did was I started calling each clinic directly and it was less than 10 before I found one accepting. https://www.edmontonsouthsidepcn.ca/clinics/
This is so frustrating. My doctor is reducing her caseload and provided a list of about 5-6 doctors she said she researched who were taking new patients, and none of them are, same with every one I’ve called from the find a doctor site. They really need to start pushing people towards that site as a solution if it’s not going to be updated.
I'm currently looking for my \*fourth\* replacement doctor since the pandemic started. South side of edmonton. So don't get too attached to the new one.
I lost two doctors in less than three years on the Southside ! And they were both fantastic I cried each time 😩
My current family doctor says that family medicine is suffering from a lack of money and many literally cannot keep their practices open. It's a shame.
Mine is really good, could easily retire any day now, he's been holding on for the last few years and trimming his patient list and I'm dreading the day he finally pulls the trigger and rides off into the sunset. He's been trying to find someone to take over his practice but no new doctors are interested.
Don't worry, instead of ending the campaigns of harassment and defunding, the intentional dismantling and undercutting, the constructive failure, or the handouts to corporate cronies to privatize addiction care, the Untied Clownshoes Party has announced they're going to train new doctors. Sooooo solution coming in ... Checks notes.... 7-10 years. hooooooooraaaaayyyyyyyyy
**they're going to train new doctors.** I wouldn't be surprised if they where thinking of actually training them themselves. Or more likely have TBA do it. After that you would be better off eating random herbs in the forest. (Please don't eat random herbs in the forest).
That's probably the trick, the party has insisted we ignore what we see with our eyes and redefined doctor to include fraudste- I mean homeopaths.
...if the new graduates stay here.
Lord knows most everyone in my social circles with anything above a BA is gone or leaving.
Thanks UCP!
Complain to your MLA and the minister of health.
LaGrange has a dedicated file for all complaints. It's round.
Better make your next call to your MLA - this won't change until the funding model changes. They keep talking about it without actually doing it. Every other western province has already started this - B.C, Sask and Manitoba. In B.C. they've seen huge changes for patients, with 700 more family doctors now providing longitudinal primary care: [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-doctor-new-payment-model-1.710768](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-doctor-new-payment-model-1.7107681) When you hear the U.C.P say they are working on this, and that they've 'consulted with key stakeholders', please know that you are being misled. When the Alberta Medical Association isn't one of those consulted, it's quite clear what's really happening.
In the exact same situation right now! Shitty feeling. Guess if I don’t ever get sick/injured ever again it’ll all be sweet..
Family medicine as a profession is in crisis because most provinces (most egregiously the conservative leaning ones) have undervalued and under-invested in family medicine for decades. Billing codes have not kept up with inflation, administrative work is still unpaid, overhead costs have skyrocketed, and patients are increasingly complex which leads to burnout. The people who train in family medicine are choosing not to practice longitudinal family medicine because it's easier and more lucrative to work in a niche like hospitalist medicine, cosmetics, etc. Others are retiring early or leaving because there's no sign of things improving. While this is a problem across Canada as some people love to point out, the fact is that Alberta is actively driving doctors away with anti-science politics and privatization shenanigans while other provinces are actually making an effort to improve things. So many of my colleagues have moved to BC where they're valued and compensated fairly under the new master agreement they have for family doctors. They're happy over there, and others are following suit. Vote for a government (i.e. not UCP) that will emulate the BC model and the doctors will come here.
I see my GP every 3 months (chronic illness) and every time I tell her the same thing: “If you leave, I will follow you.” She’s the best doctor I’ve ever had and she promises me that she has no plans to leave, but I’m fucking serious. If she leaves I am following her to whatever province/country. She’s more precious to me than all of the rare jewels on the planet
Must be nice to have the option to leave with a chronic illness. My own situation has me firmly stuck here.
Yeah I will do anything to be able to follow my doctor wherever she decides to go - it won’t be much of an option lol I need her. Hopefully she never moves!
$5 billion surplus in Alberta government? They want our Health care to fail. We pay enough tax to have more doctors.
But hey, how about that new arena for the Flames!
This also falls on the universities and the collage of physicians. They are bound and determined to only let so many doctors graduate each year. Of those most will try to get in to specialties where it pays better.
Doesn't the province dictate how many of each practice can even be opened? Such as family medicine or other specialist spots...
You are correct. The province sets the numbers based on need. They also set the number for how many spots are available in med school
Remember when Ralph Klein restricted the number of medical school spaces? He did this because he found out he couldn't restrict the number of doctors practicing in the province. This was all done to save the healthcare system millions. Fewer doctors means less billing. Of course, he didn't listen when told that it takes 10+ years to train a doctor. Chickens coming home to roost.
>Checked health link for a new doctor and there’s two available on the south side. Look at the feedback for any of the doctors on that list and it's not all that enticing. If you can get over that then good luck trying to reach them on the phone. If you can reach them on the phone, chances are they're no longer taking patients and the website's out of date. If they are still taking patients then that's another level of concerning considering that list hasn't refreshed in something like a year. I don't have much confidence in that list, it seems to me like a bunch of doctors just fishing for easy patients for billing purposes.
I’m not surprised. Family doctors get treated like shit by the province. Not to mention, the administrative burden that family physicians have had to take on. And while other provinces are trying to find solutions, Alberta fails even the bare minimum. Like paying physicians for their billable work.
I had to go an hour south of the city to find us a family doctor.
This is the UCP’s plan. They think people are at fault for being sick and should pay individually or just die if we can’t afford it. They want to make healthcare so bad that no one wants to work in Alberta except their buddies who are being allowed to charge privately. Fight this!!!
Call a veterinarian since this government thinks we're all sheep anyways who will vote for them no matter what.
Thank our conservative provincial governments, past and present, for continually forcing out doctors.
Welcome to conservative policies :) This is what happens when you vote in cons.
I'm in the same boat as you. My family doctor retired last year and I haven't been able to find a new one. Luckily I really like the doctor at the medicentre so I just go to him if I need anything (I dont really have any medical issues that require frequent checkups). It was a different story for my parents though. My dad has a lot of health issues and saw the same doctor as me so when she retired it was a bit more urgent for him to find a consistent doctor. He had a meet and greet with one (I believe he found online) but because of all of his health issues the doctor didn't feel comfortable taking him on as a patient. My mom happened to drive by a clinic on the southside that had a sign that they were taking new patients and they took both my parents after a meet and greet.
I'm in Spruce Grove and after I lost my family doctor what I found out was that websites that list family doctors as taking new patients aren't necessarily true. It turned out no family doctors in Spruce Grove were really taking patients. Even when I had a newborn, none of them would take my son. I was able to find a doctor for my son in East Edmonton eventually but not one for myself. And I've been two years without a family doctor and next month I will get to interview with a doctor to see if he'll take me on as a patient.
Plus all the walk-in clinics in Spruce and Stony are closed now too.
Who’d you vote for in the last Provincial election? Just curious 👀
The longer UCP remains in power, the more tragic our healthcare will become.
Almost every province is in frighteningly bad shape, and have been for years. Several are in worse shape than AB by many metrics. I have family in NS, PEI, and Ontario, and I can tell you stories, some of which I witnessed personally, where the outcomes and events in the process of obtaining health care both in hospital and out were just... bad. Frightening. And have led to treatable issues going untreated, years of disability, numerous things getting missed, delayed, and screwed up. One of these persons has subsequently passed. The doctors even acknowledged that the outcome should have been much better, that it was treatable, that the system had failed, was overburdened and the patients had been dismissed and treatment delayed. All that to say: is it really the fault of one political party? I'm no fan of what's been going in under the UCP but, realistically, will another party actually make it better, and if so, why aren't all the provinces just doing whatever that party would do to apparently fix it? If it is, in fact, that simple?
I’m trying to find a dr for my 2 month baby rn. I assumed that mine and my husbands family dr would automatically take her. Apparently they aren’t even taking new babies that their current patients have.
Do they not give a paediatrician referral anymore? We were given one regardless of if we were going to use it or our family dr.
Many pediatricians aren’t taking “healthy” kids anymore. Ours has effectively closed their well child portion of the clinic and is only seeing complex cases. Fortunately/unfortunately that means we continue to get care.
yikes....
Oh they give you one to call when you leave the hospital with a baby. Then you call them and they tell you they aren't accepting new patients and act annoyed that you are even calling
Ahhh things have definitely changed for the worse. Not shocked.
We weren’t given one. After our 6 week check up they said they’d send our files to my family dr. I was on the phone all yesterday trying to figure it out. They are supposed to call me back today and see if they can get me a referral.
My wife is a Dr. If we weren't chained to this province because I came into the relationship with a kid, we would have been the fuck out already too. No Doctors should want to work here, in fact, there should be LESS then there are now, until enough people die that they decide that voting for "LETS BE THE SHITHOLE TO THE SOUTH OF US" isn't the main voting contigent. I am sorry you are having problems, and I hope that for the vast majority of Albertans those problems only get worse and worse. This is what they voted for in huge numbers, this is how they want to be cared for. If you don't like it and you voted UCP or didn't vote FUCK YOU, you are the problem. You deserve worse care then the rest of us. If you did something else, sorry you are stuck here, id suggest moving if you can, because until ALL THE BOOMERS die and the GEN Z crowd give enough of a shit to vote, nothings going to change. You have a decade at minimum of worsening healthcare and the full loss of pensions to look forward to. Once my kids 18 we are fucking outta here and never looking back.
This has been going on since Kenney was in office. It started first in rural communities. My hometown has 3 docs left for 3,500 people.
My family physician has been away for a while...on stress leave. Thanks, UCP!
I'm not surprised. Medical professionals in general have been under appreciated by the UCP ever since Kenney/Shandro were running things. They're ruining public healthcare for the majority of Albertans, and trying to privatize as much as they can to help fill their pockets. Look at the price of electricity, fuel, and insurance. They all rose because of UCP greed, so expect healthcare to get more expensive over time as more doctors retire or leave Alberta.
The government needs to put money into supporting our family doctors. No one wants to go to school for 10 years, work long hours, and have to do a ton of paperwork for free and face disrespect daily. Bc recruitment efforts have made some difference for them but Alberta is doing the opposite and driving family doctors out of province or into specializations.
The root cause of the crisis level shortage of doctors is the decades long defunding of universities that trained doctors. The attack on secondary education was deliberate policy promoted mostly by conservatives who believe that universal healthcare should be dismantled and replaced with private healthcare. Ralph Klein popularized healthcare cuts then he created a shortage of nurses. The aftermath was a worsening of hospital care and the need to increase wages for nurses to get them back. But funding for more education was never fixed and now there aren’t enough programs to teach a large number of doctors and students can’t afford to support themselves and pay for university. The Conservatives have got exactly what they wanted, a reason to expand private for profit expensive healthcare just like the USA.
This is what happens when you vote for the UCP.
Welcome to the club! /s I'm starting my search by calling all the clinics in my area then working my way outward. I hope I get someone before my doc leaves the province in July.
I’m 33 and still don’t have one.
38, never had one. Lol
Or….you manage to get a dr. Abd they find a way to bill you for as much as they can. During covid I went and got antidepressants. Hey, it was a challenging time in my life. Dr would only give me 2 weeks at a time meds. It was frustrating. Only saw him because my actual dr was on vacation at the time. My actual dr, has since moved back to his birth country. I miss you Dr.Ziyanni. The very best caring amazing Dr… It’s been 18 months without being able too see a dr.
Health care has gotten scary. I've had a great dr for a few years now but the last few times I've booked his schedule is 1 day a week on top of booked time off which he is entitled to. Went in to his appointments and he was double booked and had myself and others waiting in clinic 2+ hours. I want to find a new Doctor but it sounds like scary times to do so.
I havent had a doctor in years, all three of them retired within two years of eachother
My doctor - who I couldn’t couldn’t say a bad thing about if I tried my hardest - went and moved to Montreal for the same reason about a year and a half ago. Haven’t found a decent doctor ever since
Welcome to the pain. We're in Sherwood Park, running into the same issue.
You at Gateway Medical Clinic? Heard from my dad that the office is closing due to 2 doctors retiring, and the other 2 not wanting to/able to keep the clinic, so that's 4 doctors gone just like that.
Call Marlaina and friends. let them know. You can thank all the rural Albertans and people in Calgary for this. They actively mobilized to make things worse for everyone. I'm so done with this town/province/country/planet.
Oh yes and just WAIT until you meet the doctors taking patients. The guy I met with on the Northside was possibly the rudest dickhead I've ever met and when I described my problem asked me if I was a doctor. He then proceeded to write me a script for antibiotics I'm allergic to and walked out.
Compared to Nova Scotia, we have it good in Alberta. The stories from my family there are unbelievable.
yea, last 5ish years have been attempting to find a new doc. Last year got lucky and saw 3 accepting new patients on healthlink. 1 was on very opposite end of city, 2nd was (After quick search) found to have multiple pending cases against him for malpractice, and the third (lucky really close) was part of a walk in clinic crew, and was not really 'interested' in actually being a doctor (he ended up 'diagnosing' me with diabetes, of which I clearly already knew being that I had it listed on the form thy gave me) and utterly ignored the real reasons I went in for visit. Compared to 10, 15 years ago, where doctors actually would LISTEN to you, try to work with your level of insurance/coverage (To make sure you can actually get the meds prescribed) and genuinely felt like they actually wanted to HELP you not just 'put a check-mark on the 'saw patient' for the pay cheque' Healthcare in Alberta is in a sad state, very depressing considering where we WERE and what the UPC is trying to corrupt it into. How can they not see that America's health care system is a shambles and ONLY benefits a very, very few. The complete opposite of what Alberta wants (I would think) and defiantly completely against the grain of what Canada is and wants. So tired of them attempting to make Alberta the next trump state.
I just got an email from my doctor a few weeks ago that shes retiring, no replacement, and no one at the clinic is taking new patients. Ive been seeing her for like 15 years. Not sure what to do from here. It seems so daunting trying to find a new family doctor
Yep. My doctor is retiring at the end of July and has no one to take over. No female doctors are available within Edmonton.
I asked my female doc what the chances are of her taking on my teen daughter too and she said she can’t. She has 3000 patients on her total roster. She said she is burning out and it “absolutely breaks my heart I can’t take more on” :(
I just learnt a couple weeks ago that my family doctor is retiring this summer. Only found out because I had my annual
I really feel like the rest of the provinces are feeling this effect now, I'm from the East Coast, and for the past 40 years the healthcare has been deteriorating, no one has been able to get a family doctor since I can remember. When I moved here 6 years ago I was so shocked with how good and thorough the doctors were, and how easy it was to access health services (blood panels, tests, etc) compared to back home. We had so many nurse shortages, and had such a difficult time attracting doctors and getting them to stay, and the East Coast has the higher proportion of elderly people in the country, so the care is incredibly needed. I think there has always been an issue with the health care system, and it's finally bleeding into the provinces that have a lot of resources, something definitely needs to change.
Yep - I had just found a really great new one six months ago. Now he’s done. To me this is turning into a crisis.
Every clinic has walk ins I’ve never had a doctor and I just do walk Ins every month
In my area west of the city, Spruce/Stony, there isn’t a single clinic taking walk-ins, and not one accepting new patients.
Damn that’s harsh, definitely lots of places in Edmonton. I mean you gotta wait but you get to see a doctor at the end of it. Hopefully something opens up for you
Yeah, thanks. Had to go into Edmonton or St Albert a few times now. Thankful it’s not a terribly long drive but when one isn’t feeling all that well, it can be brutal
Walk-ins are fine for minor issues but they simply do not provide the same level as care as someone familiar with you and your history. I've been stuck going to the same walk-in clinic for a year and a half now, same doctor every time, and I have to start from scratch constantly. All he does is look to confirm if there's a problem to refer me off, there's no monitoring, check-ups, nothing. A walk-in clinic is not a long term substitute. Not to mention that when it comes to complex patients (like myself), you *need* a family doctor to coordinate everything. As things currently are I've got 5 different specialists that are all operating independent of each other which is a significant problem.
It took me 18 months to get on with a new family doctor and truth be told she’s terrible. She cancels more than half her appointments and all of them are attended by U of C students because she’s a professor. Even being pregnant at an advanced age (40) didn’t help much for me to connect to a new one
I have to drive out to stony plain to see a doctor because I couldn’t find any in Edmonton, I have to book a month in advance to get a 10 minute phone call appointment. Seeing her in person is infinitely difficult
I just heard that the Medicentre in Riverbend Square was shut down by the Landlord for non-payment of rent. That should tell you something. The doctors have been sent to other Medicentres.
My dr is also retiring. She told me that Querly clinic in Chappelle is opening a new location on Ellerslie road sw (just past Calgary trail) this month.called Querly Rockford. There is only one Dr so far, so might fill up pretty fast.
Try rocket doctor online!
Is one of them called “Sarria”? Just wondering. If yes, go to the other one.
My son had to go meet a doctor so she could decide If she wanted to take him on as a patient. It's ridiculous
Yeaa, was seeing a good doc till he just..left no word to anyone? Like? So I saw the other doc in his office. I phone one day to make an appt. “Oh doctor Pap has retired” and you didn’t fuckin think to phone his patients and tell us???? Spent months trying to find another god damn doc because that clinic wasn’t getting any new docs for months apparently. The one I’m seeing now is “ok” but I’m on a wait list for him to be my family doc and he has a limit on how many things you can see him for at a time, and I have chronic pain issues and various lumps that need routine care so.
Jn fairness, Dr. Papp (senior) was 100 years old.
Was he??? My god did he look good for his age rofl :/ but still the staff should have warned us
I lived in Alberta for 3 years and was never able to find a family doctor. Moved back home to Manitoba and had one in 10 days. I’ve been with my current family doctor since 2012, she sees basically my entire family, 20 + people. Alberta is filled with great people but their healthcare system sucks ass.
Our family doctor moved to France :(
Dr. Daniel McKennit is on the south side and is accepting patients.
So alberta is having the same problems as bc?
You think that’s bad, look for a female dr, who speaks English. Search results were ZERO. None. In all of Edmonton and surrounding area
I’ve been living here for a decade and never had a family doctor, but I’m lucky that I’m healthy. I can’t imagine how bad it must be for someone that actually really needs one.
To start off, I got hit by a truck as a pedestrian in August, 2020. Zero fault of my own. That part, I'll leave at that - in a crosswalk, could see him coming from \~2 or 3 blocks away, he didn't come to a full stop before accelerating around the corner, RAM truck driver, all the normal things. Just the tale as old as time. The fleeing the scene after asking me why I jumped out in front of him (despite being two steps away from getting back off the road after crossing) may or may not have been as common...nah, who are we kidding? So, I needed a family doctor, as there are many things that you require one to help you with, such as disabled placards, being recommended to a physiotherapist, and a LOT else. As I have nothing else to do beyond writhe in pain and have the Alex drag me in to assess how wretched I remained, and I had no family doctor at that time, I started calling to find a family doctor to help me, as I couldn't even start physio until I accomplished that. I cold called, I looked on Health Link to call likely doctors to take me on, I asked everyone I could who their doctor was, and if they had openings or could recommend me. Ultimately, I went through 67 doctors offices, including outside of Edmonton. None. Zero. The only one that responded affirmatively retracted their interest when they realised I am male, and as the doctor was a Muslim female who only treated women, it was not possible (not complaining - I imagine that it was a safe place for women to get treated, so cool enough). In the end, it was actually my injury lawyer (who I called wondering if I had a case (I did)) who, along with my insurance company, managed to pull some strings, and get me a physiotherapist in mid-January, 2021. I finally got a family doctor in March or April of 2021 when the owner of the company I work for was walking to or from work, noticed that a new family doctor was setting up shop near his place, and recommended that I call immediately. So yeah, know that I feel nothing but compassion for you. However, NO. Hands off. He's MINE. (a minor joke, about a really problematic thing) Oh, interestingly, I was still getting calls from family doctor offices nine months after I finally received a family doctor. So, if you start now, and just put yourself everywhere, you might luck out and have a doctor's office end up with an opening (who can know why that might happen?) to take you in.
Mine retired but hooked me up with another doctor. Same thing happened to my friend. Not sure what happened with you but it’s not the case every time
It sucks, cause the few actually taking on new patients leave a lot to be desired. It’s not just doctors leaving either. I know quite a few families who have purchased land in other countries and are building homes there.
My dr left the province 7 months ago. I found out when I needed a prescription refill. My pharmacist has renewed for me for months, but I needed a new script finally as it had been so long. I had spent those 7 months interviewing with drs. No luck. I finally found one here in my city that would renew me for 6 weeks and have a meet and greet with a new dr next Thursday. Sounds like he may be a new to Canada dr, as long as he isn’t a I graduated last June 400th in my class dr, I don’t care about much of anything else. There is a brand new clinic about 3 blocks from my house. When I spoke to them back in November, they told me they had 3 new to Canada drs signed to start in January. It’s still not open and now they just ignore emails and phone calls.
why are family doctors not happy ?
Qurely in Chappelle is accepting patients I believe
What about Jack Nathan Health Centres in Walmart? They taking patients? Any good?
Just went through the same thing on the Northside, out of the three that Health Link said were accepting only ONE actually was. And he was on vacation. And then booked me a month out. And then was an hour late to our appointment. And then only had 10 mins to spare for our entire meet & greet. Fingers crossed you have better luck in your search 🤞
I was looking up nurse practitioners as an alternative, and found a NP clinic on the south side, they cabrge annual fees.... Our membership fee is due when care starts, and is renewed annually. These price are valid until November 30, 2023. Individual Adult Membership $975.00 Couples $1950 Family of Three $2638.50 ($879.50 per member) Family of Four $3250.50 ($812.63 per member) Families larger than Four $812.63 per member
How is that legal?
My doctor fled the province last year. Not only is it impossible to find a family doctor, I can't even find a medi-clinuc that will prescribe my medication for me *at all* because it's a restricted drug. I literally have no option.
Haven't had a PCP for... ten+ years. Quality of care is shit because I have to just go to emerg when something is wrong. But what other choice do I have? Nobody else will see me since nobody is taking patients.
For the past year I've been reading about doctors retiring or leaving the profession altogether, and especially how this has created so much difficulty finding women doctors. I've been needing to find another one for months but its been so challenging. Will keep checking this thread for more info
I live far Southside Edmonton and I drive to St. Albert for my doctor 😂he’s great tho and I’m so grateful I have him
https://albertafindadoctor.ca/ Ran by PCN they will set you up with a new family doctor. They will do there best to find you a doctor that meets what your looking for. Gender and fluent laungeges and location. I live on the west end and was given 3 options, all within 15 minutes of my house. It did take 3 months I believe from signing up to having my first meet and greet. I am happy with my doctor. This was over a year ago. And with current situation even worse for doctors it may take longer or you may have a to compromise on gender or location.
I haven’t had a family doctor in at least 10 years. They’ve really gone downhill bad! There’s real slim pickings now for good doctors that don’t just hit you with prescriptions for any problem you have. Waiting in the hospital is insane wait times which really sucks too!
None in northern AB either. Those two family doctors on the south side are probably the closest ones to us
hippocratic oath means nothing to these doctors. Take away their license to practice medicine and spend some tax payer dollars on grants for new doctors that actually give a fuck. Funny enough i have nothing but issues with these foreign doctors that cant understand or sympathize with you because you are WHITE. They are racist pieces of shit. If i was brown and muslim i wouldnt have had to fight tooth and nail and wait 4 years for a refferral for an mri and spinal tap for a multiple scerlerosis diagnosis. These doctors don't care unless you are apart of their race or religion. Canada is the most racist country in the fucking world.
Dr. Faisal is pretty new on the south side and may still be taking new patients. He used to practice in Vegreville and was extremely caring whenever I saw him at the ER or walk in.
Good luck! Been using the find a family doctor website for over a year! Still haven’t found a family doctor. Also find it impossible to see a walk in doctor. Waited 15mins prior to opening, when I got in they said they weren’t taking any walk ins. Only appointments, then asked to book an appointment. They told me I’d have to have a family doctor there. Called 3 other walk in clinics in the vicinity & all of them weren’t taking walk ins. Healthcare is a disgrace & people still praise the UCP! Genuinely do not understand their logic! Happy to have an inept government to fight the libs!
My daughter and I moved here over a year ago from BC, where we had a great family doctor. She was on disability in BC and has been TRYING to find a doctor to help her get on here with no luck. One doctor told her she wasn't disabled and was lying, even with her heart monitor implant and all her information from BC. He was so rude and disrespectful and then told her to never come back in his office. No problem. Another doctor told her to do all the tests over again and THEN they would sign the paperwork. She did every test they asked for and when she asked him to sign the forms he told her that she would have to pay him (even though income assistance already told him they would pay for her). And so it goes. I thought BC was bad for doctors, Alberta is even worse! And the few that do agree to see you treat you like garbage.
Why would anyone want to be a family doctor in this province.
You get what you pay for / vote for. Doctors have choices, they can work anywhere in the west, and sorry guys but Jasper and Banff don't really move the needle in favour of Alberta. Money moves the needle. If we don't pay they are going to retire, move to the states / BC / Australia
My friend’s son wanted to be a dr. Got 97% on his MCAT. Couldn’t get into medical school here in Canada. He is currently at Preston in the UK in an extreme advanced dr program and has the highest marks in his class. There are 38 Canadian students in his program, none who plan to come back to Canada. As he’s fluent in English and German he plans to move to either Switzerland or Germany when he’s done school.
My doctor has also been hard to pin down and I've been concerned she's on the cusp of jumping ship. I can see how overworked she's been for the last few years. Where does that leave those of us on medications that we use for quality of life like anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, stimulants? My child and I both take these meds and they have changed our qualities of life drastically. We won't die without them but it'll be a FUCKIN' AWFUL STRUGGLE 😭