Magda Konieczna

MD vacations may prolong patient waits

appeared in The Record July 28, 2005

Waiting times for medical care could be longer than usual as local doctors try to squeeze in a few days of summer vacation, says the head of a local doctor recruitment task force.

When they take time off from the office, physicians have to depend on their peers to help share their patient load, said Glen Mathers, chair of the local physician recruitment task force.

"In an ideal world, when somebody went on holiday, there would be somebody there to cover for them," he said.

But a shortage of local doctors -- something Mathers has been working eight years to address -- means there aren't always enough physicians to fill the gap.

That means patients are shuffled and wait times tend to go up in the summer months, he said.

"Physicians who are here . . . work a little harder and they're on call a little more, and so it is a little more stressful and tiresome on them," Mathers said.

According to a survey by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, close to one in five doctors in the province did not have someone to take over their patient load last year when they were away from their practice.

Dr. Joseph Lee, president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Academy of Medicine said that when doctors decide to take a break, they need to pass off their patients to colleagues who are already working long days, or shut down their practice and direct patients to walk-in clinics and emergency rooms.

"It's harder for people to get away," Lee said. "I think many physicians do take shorter holidays because they're concerned that their practices are not having their needs met."

Doctors who want to take longer vacations can apply to get a locum, a fill-in doctor who doesn't yet have a practice and will take over while they're away.

But finding locums can be hard -- so hard that a local endocrinologist couldn't find anyone to take over her practice when she was going on maternity leave. She simply had to shut her doors and directed patients to see their family physicians.

In Sault Ste. Marie this week, the hospital warned that there may not be a pediatrician on-call. This means new babies and patients coming to the emergency room may have to leave their community to get pediatric care. That hospital has been trying to recruit a pediatrician for almost a year.

But for local pediatricians, the situation isn't any worse in the summer. They work at full capacity year-round, said pediatrician Ian Wilson. The winter is often busier, he said, because more children are sick then.

"The manpower issue is a problem year long. There's nothing unique about the summer," Wilson said.