When Georgina picked up the phone to make a doctor’s appointment through Whitehorse Medical Services last week, she knew, based on previous experience, the process wouldn’t be a smooth one.

After spending 40 minutes on the centre’s hold line — from which she says her call was dropped more than nine times — Georgina was finally able to reach an operator.

Then, she was given a choice: either wait until December for an appointment with her doctor, or wait nine days for a session with a doctor she’s never seen before.

“It’s infuriating,” said Georgina, who asked that her last name not be published. “You can’t just call and make an appointment; you have to take time off work to do so.”

She missed 40 minutes of work that morning while trying to make an appointment.

Because the clinic closes for lunch between noon and 1 p.m., making the appointment on her lunch break is not an option.

Last Friday wasn’t the first time Georgina experienced issues with Whitehorse Medical Services, a private clinic based downtown.

Georgina said most of her phone calls to the clinic in the last two years have resulted in long hold times or dropped calls.

She has often driven to the clinic on Lambert Street to make an appointment in person rather than attempt to reach the operators by phone.

Several Yukoners echoed Georgina’s complaints on social media recently.

On Aug. 27, a post by Roger Gillies condemned the medical centre’s lack of access.

“Whitehorse Medical Services – You are unreachable by telephone,” Gillies wrote.

“I tried to call no fewer than five times yesterday. Each time I was told to stay on the line and my call would be ‘answered in priority sequence.’

“Then after three minutes or so, the telephone system tells you to call back later and ends the call. You need to do better.”

Multiple comments on the post described similar experiences: dropped calls and struggles to maintain consistent appointments with a familiar doctor.

Whitehorse Medical Services is aware of the issues affecting the phone system and is working to resolve the issue with Northwestel Inc., a clinic manager told the Star on Tuesday. The issue is caused, in part, by the clinic’s high volume of callers.

“We’re revamping our systems to mirror the rest of the clinics in the territory,” said Bridget, who asked her last name not be published.

Bridget said the medical centre has been experiencing issues with its phone line for approximately two weeks.

Part of the issue, she said, is the extremely high number of calls which are backlogging the voicemail service.

The situation has become impossible for operators to manage, she said.

“One day, in the hour we were closed at lunch, we came back to 179 messages on the phone,” Bridget said. “It’s impossible to return all the calls and take new ones.”

Bridget said patients repeatedly calling, hanging up the phone after only a few rings or leaving multiple messages have contributed to the overwhelmed system.

The system revamp will no longer include the option to leave voicemail messages.

Bridget has worked at Whitehorse Medical Services for eight years, and says the clinic is the busiest she’s ever seen. Its 18 doctors treat hundreds of patients every week.

“We’re so busy here, some days it’s like a roar,” she said. “It’s so busy and so fast.”

Bridget said she can’t account for why the clinic’s intake has risen so drastically, but believes the territory is lacking in medical practitioners.

“I don’t think there’s enough doctors in the territory, and the practices are very big,” she said. “Sometimes, depending on who your family doctor is, the wait is a little bit longer.”

Bridget added it’s up to the discretion of the partnering doctors as to whether the clinic will hire more staff. However, the building “can only accommodate so many doctors” before an expansion would be required.

Gabrielle Thorsen-Herdes, the office manager at Klondyke Medical, said their office is similarly struggling to meet demand for medical care.

“We’re at max capacity, certainly,” Thorsen-Herdes said. “There’s a huge demand; I think it’s actually somewhat shocking.”

Thorsen-Herdes told the Star she was surprised at how many born-and-raised Yukoners don’t have a regular doctor.

She said the clinic receives “tonnes” of calls from potential new patients each day. In recent history, they’ve all been turned away.

Based on the high volume of requests, Thorsen-Herdes said it’s fair to say the territory is suffering a shortage of doctors.

Klondyke employs approximately 22 general practitioners and a handful of specialists, including two paediatricians. The clinic’s average daily roster of 230 patients adds up to almost 2,000 appointments every week.

Potential patients who call Klondyke looking for a doctor are often referred to Whitehorse’s only walk-in medical clinic, River Valley Medical.

Seema Sohail, River Valley’s clinic manager, said the constant referrals combined with tourist traffic in the summer months have resulted in a high volume of patients.

The walk-in clinic employs two doctors who treat a combined number of 70 to 80 patients every day.

“We are experiencing a very heavy load,” Sohail told the Star. “(The doctors) are on their feet all the time.”

Sohail said the average wait time at her clinic is 40 to 60 minutes, and treatment is not always guaranteed for all who walk through the door.

“We are all doing our best,” she said. “Absolutely, we (Yukoners) are short of doctors.”

According to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics, 102 resident doctors were practising in the territory in July 2019. The number includes family doctors and specialists.

Dr. Alex Poole, the president of the Yukon Medical Association, said the data on doctor shortages are “not currently clear,” but initiatives are underway to fix that.

Currently, the Department of Health and Social Services is preparing a “no doctor registry”. The registry is a result of the latest negotiations between the government and Yukon doctors.

When the registry is released, it will match Yukoners without a family doctor with practitioners willing to take patients.

If the registry shows an overwhelming number of Yukoners without doctors, the medical association and the government will assess the scale of need.

“You want to do it properly; you want the right balance of specialists and family doctors,” Poole told the Star.

“We’re generally successful at recruiting. We just have to know we’re recruiting the right mix.”

Poole hopes the registry will roll out by the end of this year.