Healthier You

SUBSTANCE
USE
SURGICAL
ACCESS
HEALTH
CARE
RURAL CARE
MENTAL
HEALTH AND
SUBSTANCE
USE
PRIMARY
HEALTH CARE
SENIORS CARE
SURGICAL ACCESS
MENTAL HEALTH
AND SUBSTANCE USE
SURGICAL ACCESS
RURAL CARE
Divisions
of Family
Practice:
Grassroots
health-care
change in your
community
Family doctors across B.C. are
working with community and
health-care partners—including
health authorities—to enhance
local patient care, achieve
common health-care goals, and
improve professional satisfaction
for doctors. This work is being
done by community-based groups
of family doctors called divisions
of family practice.
above: South Okanagan Similkameen
Division of Family Practice Executive
Director Terrie Crawford with Board Chair
Dr. Tim Phillips.
Divisions of family practice were formed as part of an
effort to encourage doctors to work in family practice.
In 2002, many medical students were opting out of
family medicine. So Doctors of BC and the provincial
government began looking for new ways of empowering
doctors to build relationships in their communities,
promote leadership, and inspire health-care change. A
grassroots approach was needed to kickstart this change,
and the Divisions of Family Practice initiative, funded by
Doctors of BC and the provincial government, provided
this. The initiative began in 2009 with three local divisions,
and there are now 35 divisions of family practice serving
more than 230 B.C. communities. More than 4,700 family
doctors are members of their local division. Today, health
authorities play a critical role in partnering with Divisions
of Family Practice at the local level.
6 Healthier You spring 2016