A report released today by Health Minister George Abbott shows how patients are benefiting from improved standards of care in priority areas through joint initiatives between the Ministry of Health and the BC Medical Association.

The 2006/07 annual report from the General Practice Services Committee outlines improvements in priority areas over the past four years. The GPSC was formed in 2002 as a result of the Ministry of Health and BC Medical Association agreement to respond to declining family physician recruitment and retention and less-than-optimal care for patients.

"We have made huge in-roads in working with the province's general practitioners to close care gaps in the management of chronic diseases, maternity care and seniors," said Abbott. "Improvements have been brought about through a dramatic change in our approach to strengthen the public health system and meet patients' needs in areas that need it most."

The key partnership of patient and family doctor in helping to ensure the sustainability of B.C.'s health system was recognized in the MOH/BCMA 2002 Working Agreement in which $20 million was allocated to better support the care offered in the community by GPs.

"The relationship between patient and family doctor is unique and is the pivotal hub around which all other care is integrated," said Dr. Geoff Appleton, president of the BC Medical Association. "Government and the BCMA are having a successful collaboration with the formation of the GPSC. We continue to develop initiatives that enhance family practice and provide additional training for doctors to better take care of their patients in today's complex medical environment."

Highlights of the 2007/08 GPSC annual report include:
o More than 2,800 family practitioners throughout the province are participating in a program that provides results-based care for diabetes, high blood pressure and congestive heart failure to more than 293,000 patients;
o Offering family physicians support to network and bonuses to deliver babies has resulted in halting the trend of family physicians opting out of maternity care and there are some early indications that this trend is being reversed, thereby increasing access for women across the province;
o 1,700 family physicians are involved in providing improved care of the frail elderly and patients requiring end-of-life care; o Introduction of preventing the onset of cardiovascular and associated diseases;
o Development of a major practice support programs for physicians to help modernize clinical practices - over 175 trained leaders are now active across the province; and
o More than 3,000 physicians and medical office assistants undertaking training to learn best practices models to improve patient access and patient care through 2007/08.