Any family doctor leads right now?

[Nabber]

I'm just shocked how hard it is to find a family doctor in Calgary right now.

Looking for my wife who's under 40, healthy, no kids, as her current one retired.

I know there's this website, but half that show available aren't accepting, the other half are booking meet and greets out 2+ months. Hoping for something sooner.

https://albertafindadoctor.ca/

Any ideas out there? Or know of any female doctors who may be accepting new patients?

Thanks,

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

If you're willing to go to a teaching facility, the Family Medicine Clinic at the Sheldon Chumir is where my wife and I go/have our doctors.

It was pretty easy to get in/get a doctor.
There are some downsides:
1) it's downtime (not a big deal for me, but might be for you)
2) you'll typically either have a med student (intern maybe? I'm not sure of the correct term) either in the room, or who does the initial assessment, but after that the doctor we have is really quite involved and is really good to us

[Muta]

Honestly, it's all about connections. Tap everyone you know, including people in the industry. I lost my family doctor last January, she retired and her replacement doctor apparently thought I was too healthy to be one of her clients going forward. Still looking for a family doctor a year later. It's been a really frustrating ride. Was actually thinking about going down the Sheldon Chumir route BBS mentioned above.

[looooob]

well I think its fair enough to call in on connections, I would say from recent experience even those right in the industry so to speak can have a really pesky time finding a GP


teaching clinic is rarely a bad choice- yes it may take more time, and every once in a while you may get a learner that takes you on a rough ride, but typically they are really invested in doing well and you are getting extra eyes and ears and most times (sounds like BBS' experience) you have a pretty invested staff doc too at the end of the day


doesn't help the OP, but newly minted grads start in July- can be a good time to go looking- again you are getting the pros and cons (I'll argue more pros than cons, but YMMV) of a new doc

[keratosis]

Nope our small town doctors are full up.

[Nabber]

Appreciate the Sheldon Chumir suggestion BBS and the other mentioned too, I’ll definitely look into that as I could see that working for her.

Crazy they’d say you’re too healthy Muta, you’d think they’d want that as I figured they’d get paid per patient under them. If they’re not coming in then free money. I guess they want someone who regularly books appointments to make extra money that way if they’re limited. I'll let you know if any leads turn up for me, if you wanted to try with them too.

Thanks for the tip about July loob, that could help open the options as well. At this point she’s just concerned about getting anyone, so won’t be picky. I like the idea of the teaching clinic as like you say they could be more invested than the regular GP, plus not such a big waitlist.

Still going to explore options as best I can to try a find a regular family doctor. I had one ready to book on Friday, but when I gave them the ok on Monday they weren't accepting. Kicking myself for not booking that first appointment then.

[Nabber]

Originally Posted by keratosis

Nope our small town doctors are full up.

Seems like that's happening here too! Reading online big cities in BC and Ontario it's sounds impossible to find one. People waiting 5+ years. I would have never though it would be this hard to find one here.

[3thirty]

My wife and I recently switched to Sehet medical clinic in Nolan Hill and have been really happy.

[D as in David]

I'll second the teaching clinic option. I'm really happy with mine - he's also a professor at the U of C. Unfortunately for OP, he's not accepting new patients at the moment.

[Weitz]

I have a family doctor but it takes a week plus to see her so I likely see the walk in clinic just as often.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Nabber

Appreciate the Sheldon Chumir suggestion BBS and the other mentioned too, I’ll definitely look into that as I could see that working for her.

Crazy they’d say you’re too healthy Muta, you’d think they’d want that as I figured they’d get paid per patient under them. If they’re not coming in then free money. I guess they want someone who regularly books appointments to make extra money that way if they’re limited. I'll let you know if any leads turn up for me, if you wanted to try with them too.

Thanks for the tip about July loob, that could help open the options as well. At this point she’s just concerned about getting anyone, so won’t be picky. I like the idea of the teaching clinic as like you say they could be more invested than the regular GP, plus not such a big waitlist.

Still going to explore options as best I can to try a find a regular family doctor. I had one ready to book on Friday, but when I gave them the ok on Monday they weren't accepting. Kicking myself for not booking that first appointment then.

Unless something has changed you only get paid to see people not to have someone “on the roster”.

[Nabber]

Originally Posted by 3thirty

My wife and I recently switched to Sehet medical clinic in Nolan Hill and have been really happy.

Thanks for the tip! I tried them and unfortunately they're not accepting right now, said call back and check at the end of the month.

[Nabber]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Unless something has changed you only get paid to see people not to have someone “on the roster”.

Good to know! That makes sense, probably best to just leave the healthy part out when requesting a new doctor then.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Nabber

Thanks for the tip! I tried them and unfortunately they're not accepting right now, said call back and check at the end of the month.

Sounds like they're expecting some of their patients to not make it through the month. Maybe not such a good option.

[sa226]

If we can't get into our Family doctor, the medicenters have always been pretty good for us. That primary care network link doesn't seem to include medicenters. But if you go to their website there are a number around town that say they're accepting new patients.

[Nabber]

Originally Posted by D as in David

Sounds like they're expecting some of their patients to not make it through the month. Maybe not such a good option.

Hahaha you're probably right!

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

If you're willing to go to a teaching facility, the Family Medicine Clinic at the Sheldon Chumir is where my wife and I go/have our doctors.

It was pretty easy to get in/get a doctor.
There are some downsides:
1) it's downtime (not a big deal for me, but might be for you)
2) you'll typically either have a med student (intern maybe? I'm not sure of the correct term) either in the room, or who does the initial assessment, but after that the doctor we have is really quite involved and is really good to us

That's where we go too. Been through a few doctors now as some have moved or retired but I've always been happy with the clinic as a whole.

[PsYcNeT]

Not to politicize everything, but anyone having issue finding a doctor should probably think about voting in a Provincial govt that isn't antagonistic towards medical professionals.

On topic, the Sheldon Chumir is basically where I go when I need Same-Day/Urgent non emergency treatment. Wait times for my family doc have gotten to the 1 week+ territory lately.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Not to politicize everything, but anyone having issue finding a doctor should probably think about voting in a Provincial govt that isn't antagonistic towards medical professionals.

On topic, the Sheldon Chumir is basically where I go when I need Same-Day/Urgent non emergency treatment. Wait times for my family doc have gotten to the 1 week+ territory lately.

Not that I agree with how things have been handled in Alberta but if this were the case then why does every other Province have the same issue? Our healthcare system is fundamentally broken.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Not to politicize everything, but anyone having issue finding a doctor should probably think about voting in a Provincial govt that isn't antagonistic towards medical professionals.

On topic, the Sheldon Chumir is basically where I go when I need Same-Day/Urgent non emergency treatment. Wait times for my family doc have gotten to the 1 week+ territory lately.

There's a shortage of GPs across the country. It's a much larger economic issue. Canada has an extremely low amount of medical school spots, that are extremely competitive to get into. Many students come out of medical school with large amounts of debt, and many competitive people don't want to live middle class lifestyles. Convincing medical students to willingly become GPs is a difficult task.

Even if you increased pay, it probably wouldn't fix the issue. The cost of living and property is so out of site, that giving GPs and extra $20-50k a year (which would not be a popular move), wouldn't change a thing.

It's also just as much to do with generational bottleknecking. For the last 30 years, they didn't need many doctors, as babyboomers had all the spots. Those doctors are retiring on mass and there's no one to replace them. The medical schools all maintained the same amount of medical school spots for decades, as the Gen X doctors entering the field were complaining about not having enough jobs available.

it's all a mess.