“They are quite often leaving here exhausted”
That’s from Casey Bockus who is the Service Manager for the Prince George Veterinary Hospital as his staff and other vets across our city continue to deal with a large appointment backlog.
He told MyPGNow.com his staff are often left burning the midnight oil in order to keep up.
“They are quite often leaving here exhausted and so are our clinical and support staff spending many hours every day trying to get caught and to get the backlog to a reasonable amount here in Prince George.”
“They are filling the amount of overtime they are doing every day to get caught up. This includes their medical records just because they are trying to squeeze as many patients as they can in a day, which is still pretty huge. Doctors are being stretched very, very thin.”
Despite an easing of restrictions related to the pandemic, Bockus stated their 18th Avenue location is so busy, that clients are being asked to book well into the summer.
“We are still currently booking our surgeries into July and our regular appointments we are booking into mid-June right now. So, we are still seeing significant wait times at the clinic, but that is not just us, I can say that for all of the clinics in town.”
“And, we are seeing so many new clients. I do not know if there is an increase in people moving to the Prince George area or what is happening but the amount of clientele that is looking on a daily basis for a hospital that they can call as their regular practice – I would bet that we are receiving 20 calls a day and that is every day.”
Bockus also mentioned there is a huge shortage of veterinarians and support staff in PG with one common drawback voiced by potential hires during the interview process.
“Over the last five years or so while interviewing veterinarians in coming to Prince George, being on-call after hours is a huge downfall and not something many people want to do anymore.”
“When you are in places like Vancouver, Victoria, and Kelowna, those areas can send their emergencies to emergencies practices. That’s what they are there for, they are staffed 24 hours a day and there is not one clinic in Prince George that is open that long. When a doctor is on call, for the most part, they are on call by themselves in the middle of the night.”
The appointment backlog is getting to a point where a similar 24-hour clinic is badly needed in the northern capital, however, another five to seven new veterinarians would be needed in order for such a facility to run smoothly.
“We are probably getting to that area of having an after-hours clinic be available in Prince George but you would need the additional veterinarians to staff that and we just can’t get them in. Every time we get a veterinarian into Prince George either one or more leave in that timeframe because they just can’t handle the workload because it is too much on them, their bodies and families,” added Bockus.
Earlier this week, the BC government announced it will spend ten million dollars to subsidize the education of 40 more veterinarians.
This decision doubles the number of seats for first-year students at the Saskatchewan-based Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
It will take effect for the 2022-23 academic year according to the province
A link to the news release can be found here.
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