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One-third of North Shore residents have had long waits for health care, poll finds

Almost half of respondents said they or a family member has had to wait long hours to see a doctor or nurse.
Brent Richter
Brent Richter
LGH high acuity ward
A sizable portion of North Vancouver and West Vancouver residents say they've faced long waits to see a doctor or nurse.Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

Whether it's trying to see a family doctor, understaffing of nurses, or waiting through triage in the ER, there's been a lot of talk about lack of access to health professionals in B.C. in recent months.

But how are North Shore residents faring through the shortage?

North Shore News polled 1,205 readers and asked the question: Have you been impacted by staffing shortages in health care?

The poll ran from Aug. 26 to Sept. 12 on our website. Of the 1,205 votes, we can determine that 444 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:

Yes, I have recently had to wait long hours to see a doctor or nurse. 35.59% local, 36.35% total    
No, I have not had difficulty getting medical care when I needed it. 28.15% local, 24.81% total    
I have been fortunate to not need a doctor or nurse lately. 21.62% local, 22.24% total    
I have avoided the ER and UPCC because I hear the waits are long. 2.25% local, 4.56% total    
I am not personally affected but I have a loved one who has. 12.39% local, 12.03% total    
  Local   Total

In August, Health Minister Adrian Dix announced $118 million in funding for the province's 3,480 family doctors to help them stay afloat while the province works on a new compensation scheme for doctors in family practice.

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers who are located in North Vancouver and West Vancouver. The margin of error – which measures sample variability – is +/- 2.81%, 19 times out of 20. North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.