No doubt what I'm about to write is going to upset some people. They will huff and puff and go all holier-than-thou and accuse me of blatant and intolerant racism. But guess what? I no longer care because this has to be said. I live in Nova Scotia Canada and over the last several years more and more so-called walk-in medical clinics have opened up in part to address the long wait times of hospital emergency departments.
The theory behind clinics is a sound one - a patient with a sore throat shouldn't be seeking treatment at an ER. Non-emergency ER visits have clogged up the system for as long as I can remember and no one wins. The reasonable alternative is the walk-in. Unfortunately for that person with the sore throat, these clinics are more and more being staffed with immigrant doctors. Let me make this clear - it is not the immigrant status that I have a problem with. I do however have a huge problem with:
--an increase in immigrant doctors who do not have a working knowledge of the English language;
--an increase in immigrant doctors who do not have a working knowledge in the practice of medicine.
Now combine the two and there exists the potential for disaster. You're feeling unwell - you have a head cold, a sore throat and a headache. It's the weekend. Or a holiday, Or after hours and you can't call your own doctor if you're one of the increasingly lucky few who actually do have their own GP. Your symptoms are not an emergency but you're feeling miserable enough to seek the advice of a physician. So you go to the nearby walk-in clinic.
The doctor assigned to you has a very broad accent and you're suddenly having a difficult time understanding what she is saying to you but even more worrisome, she doesn't seem to be understanding you either. You find yourself repeating many words to her and you even resort to hand signals before she finally understands you're telling her you have a very sore throat.
A couple of times during the consultation she becomes so frustrated with the obvious language barrier that she actually lashes out at you in anger. You end up leaving in considerable frustration of your own without having received any medical attention.
The above scenario did not actually occur in one visit but each point that I describe did, as reported to me by others during several visits to several different walk-in clinics and several different doctors. One doctor with a language barrier is an anomaly but several different doctors with the same problems is a pattern. A disturbing pattern that has been developing in this province over the course of a few years.
The original viable alternative to non-emergency visits to ER departments has gone very, very wrong. The very same patients who have tried doing the right thing by using walk-ins are again ending up back in the ERs thus clogging the system once more. Eventually we will be right back where we started from because the powers-that-be are not monitoring and overseeing these clinics. Or they are but are looking the other way.
