Welcome to your evening edition of West Coast Health.

Adrian Lam / Times Colonist

  British Columbia  

Huge wave of B.C. family doctors will retire within five years, College of Family Physicians calls for action

Forty per cent of the family physicians in the province are planning to retire or reduce their work hours within the next five years, the B.C. College of Family Physicians warned on Wednesday.

It called on new Health Minister Josie Osborne to sit down with family doctors as soon as possible and stated its intention to hold the NDP to their promises to scrap sick day requirements by employers and upgrade administrative software in doctors’ offices.

On the campaign trail, Premier David Eby said he understood the need to “axe the fax” and make other improvements so that physicians can spend more time treating patients and less time filling out paperwork.

The college estimates family doctors currently spend around 30 per cent of their time doing non-patient related work, such as filling out sick notes.

Getty Images

  Discovery  

Irregular sleep may increase risk of heart attack, stroke: Study

If you do shift work, you may want to track how much sleep you get.

According to a new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, sleeping and waking up at different times could increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

For seven days, scientists tracked the activity of 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 who had never been affected by a major cardiovascular event. The researchers calculated each participant’s Sleep Regularity Index score. Higher scores equated to more regular sleepers.

From our partners at Healthing.ca

• Ultrasound anywhere: Virtual reality tool aims to change the face of rural healthcare for Canadians

AP Photo

  Sport   

Study warns of 'delayed adverse effects' from repeatedly heading soccer balls

A well-used soccer tactic may be causing more harm to players than initially thought.

A new report being presented at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting says that heading a ball may be more damaging to the brain than previous studies have shown.

The report looked at links between heading and neurodegenerative diseases like chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which has gained attention over the years in contact sports like football and hockey.

Headlines

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