Sharman Minus⁷

@dieworkwear Thank you, Derek! Now I know what to get my husband for Christmas. The bonus is it's a Canadan business so none of those pesky duties.

Let me show you the difference between a $40 hoodie and a ~$100 hoodie. 🧵

Episode #4 of the Your Health Care Matters Podcast! We sit down with Dr. Darren Joneson, MD, to explore his passion for team-based care, mental health care, and the power of advocacy. Heartfelt insights into the challenges patients face. #BC #healthcare buff.ly/4gcdzq8

@princepolity Congratulations Michael, well deserved!

I am so deeply honoured to be appointed as a Member to the Order of Canada.

@BC_GP_Shortage Josie Osborne, here’s a tip: 90% of health care funding needs to go to front line professionals, and 10% to admin. Here’s another: double the family medicine residency spots, #everyonehasafamilydoctorin4years and you’ll get elected again. You’re welcome. @markroseman @dr_voon

Your Health Care Matters podbean.com/pu/pbblog-zruu…

@markroseman Unbelievable!

More on the UPCC front—the gift that just keeps on giving. All the VIHA UPCCs are moving to a shared phone number (833-688-8722). Want to reach a specific clinic? You're going to have to go through a central IVR phone tree to get there. I know… my call is important to them!

Wonder why trying to get health care in BC feels like trying to get bread in the old Soviet Union? (and no, this is not a "left-wing, communism, socialism" screed...) 🧵1/6

Ask your MLA candidate about their commitment to Healthcare. As healthcare continues to be a pressing issue in British Columbia, it's essential for voters to engage with political candidates on matters that directly impact the well-being of communities. buff.ly/3XPHUVP

The BC govt spends over $26 billion per year on health. We have about 16,000 doctors and I don't know how many nurses. If they routinely can't keep emergency rooms open, it's because those resources aren't being deployed where they're needed. Period. 1/3

I had a 'meet & greet' (his phrase) with a BC family doctor, who wanted to meet me before deciding if he could take me into his practice, but only I fit his needed "demographics", he called them. He needs practice with certain % elderly, % disabled, etc, he says. #bcpoli /1

We are going to be losing a few really busy family doctors on the North Shore over the next couple months. Docs who’ve devoted much of their lives to their practices. One for 40 plus years. They’ve tried for years to find replacements. Just not able to. One forced to leave for the USA because government and regulatory bodies couldn’t get their act together. There are going to be many thousands of people who are receiving letters saying they no longer have a doctor. Where else will they get care? Maybe you’re one of them? Comment below. For leaders listening this is going to be an election issue. Many of your constituents in pretty close races are going to be impacted. Let’s hear your plans. Regurgitating what you’ve done when it’s clearly not working for these thousands of people ain’t an answer.

1/20 🧵BC NDP bet big on Urgent and Primary Care Centres (UPCCs). Critics say they're expensive, horribly managed, and don't deliver what they promised. I reviewed the govt's own data, obtained via FOI. The critics are right. Strap in. Full details at takingaction.ca/upcc/

I have a solution. Let’s make it really difficult for Canadians who’ve trained in Australia, Ireland, the UK (and others) at world class medical schools to come back to BC. While we are at it let’s limit residency spaces and training in BC to way below population growth. Now to round this plan out let’s offer crazy amounts of tax payer dollars to a burnt out pool of existing doctors to try to convince them to do even more hours. Heck with this plan we will be able to close even more ERs. Oh. Wait. Uggg. Forget this. Government has already figured out and is implementing this plan.

I hate to say "I told you so." In May 2023, MoH claimed cost would be $7300/patient. My calculations were $10,500 USD ($14K Can)/patient. Data suggests it's $16,000/patient (treatment only). Willing to provide math help @bcndp. x.com/SKGandhiMD/sta… cbc.ca/news/canada/br…

Today I learned more about the Danish 🇩🇰specialist referral system. It was a system so logical and patient-centered, it made me want to cry Here is some of what I learned 🧵 (here's screenshot of the publicly-available, searchable database of ALL specialists in Denmark)

I am having to add “lack of access to primary care” as a medical problem on discharge for more and more complex patients. This worsens patient outcomes and ends up costing you a lot more in tax dollars in the long run.

It’s almost as if it would have been better to train enough doctors, get on with licensing those Canadians who trained in places like Ireland and Australia, expand residency positions, allow physician assistants, and a host of other policy ideas instead of burning out our current docs while spending huge amounts of taxpayer dollars. But hey maybe eventually just pouring more money in to the status quo will work out at some point 🤪

Have been warning of this. The march to privatization is turbocharged right now as Ford gets emboldened by the lack of pushback.

How is that >98% of Danes have a GP? Part of the answer lies in their approach to training physicians. Here's a summary of some of what I've learned on my trip to Denmark 🇩🇰 🧵 (the photo here is a wall of some of the 170+ residents trained at the practice I visited)