Too many doctors working bankers' hours: report

New Brunswick's problemover access to family doctors is less about the amount of physicians working in the province and more about the hours they are keeping, according to a new report.

The New Brunswick Health Council released a report this week that surveyed 14,000 people and it suggests too many family doctors in New Brunswick are working bankers' hours.

The council's report found 93 per cent of New Brunswick citizens have a family doctor, which is a much higher rate than Canadians in most other provinces.

However, less than 25 per cent of those doctors are working earlier than 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m.

Stephane Robichaud, the chief executive officer of the health council, said many patients say those restrictive hours force them to go to emergency rooms and after-hours clinics.

"We have to find some other solutions. And our response from doctors has been very constructive, not all of your interactions have to be with a family physician," Robichaud said.

Robichaud said part of the solution could be to get other members of a health-care team to deal with patients who have chronic illnesses.

The N.B. Health Council's survey alsofound 49 per cent of New Brunswick citizens have one or more chronic illnesses, compared to about 30 per cent nationally.

Dr. Dennis Furlong, a former Progressive Conservative health minister, said during last year's provincial election campaign the next government needed to find a way to get patients access to healthservices outside of normal office hours.

Even before the report was released, Furlong said many doctors' offices are open about six hours a day, five days a week.

"We cannot take our whole primary care system and have it operate between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and tell people that outside of those hours it's up to them,"Furlong said at the start of the 2010 provincial election.

"We need to stretch primary care to cover at least 18 hours a day and take the pressure off emergency rooms."