FPSC

Last updated: May 13, 2021

After 10 years working as a senior leader in the fields of marketing and product management in the IT world, Dr Jaron Easterbrook took a break to consider his next career move. He would take his new puppy out to a nearby Victoria park and chat with people asking them about their careers, searching for inspiration. One day, he met an ICU doctor.

In the early days of pandemic, Dr Omesh Syal, a family physician in Prince George, was browsing his Health Data Coalition (HDC) Discover dashboard to gain a higher-level perspective of his practice. HDC Discover allows doctors to better understand their patient populations and compare patterns of practice on a clinic, community, or provincial level.  

The GPSC Long-Term Care Initiative (LTCI) reports significant improvement in the medical care of BC seniors in long-term care facilities since the LTCI was created in 2015. The LTCI was formed through a partnership with the GPSC, divisions of family practice, health authorities, long-term care facilities and the Ministry of Health. It was set up in response to the declining number of family doctors and most responsible providers working in long-term care facilities and the significant projected growth in future long-term care patients.

March 1, 2022 update: Applications for this grant are now closed. Updated information can be found on the Group Family Practice Development Grant webpage.

BC is embarking on a provincial vaccination campaign that will be larger and more complex than anything BC has ever done before.  A few weeks before announcing the details of the public vaccination campaign, the doctor leading the provincial roll-out, Dr Penny Ballem, spoke to physicians, government, and health authority partners at a GPSC workshop. The key question on everyone’s mind was: How can primary care assist, support, and contribute to the success of the vaccination campaign?  Dr Ballem’s response:  “We need you.

British Columbians aged 80 and over and Indigenous seniors aged 65 and over are expected to start receiving vaccines in March as part of Phase 2 of BC’s vaccination plan. The exact timing will be determined based on availability of supplies. While we await details for how people in these groups can register and book appointments, family doctors and their teams can take steps to prepare.

They include:

A new GPSC one-time payment with a minimum of $1000 will support eligible family doctors who manage high risk patients during the current COVID-19 and influenza season.

Primary care providers, including family physicians, have played a critical role in preventing and reducing the transmission of COVID-19 in BC communities. We thank you for your continued care of British Columbians during the pandemic and support of the 2020-21 influenza immunization campaign. Your promotion of immunization services to residents in your communities are greatly appreciated.