B.C. is taking its long-COVID clinics online and removing access to their doctors

Lynne Davies loved to dance. She would take daily classes. She was also an avid hiker and cycler.

Then, on Feb. 2, 2022, everything changed. Davies caught COVID-19, eventually developing long COVID, a condition with more than a hundred symptoms that, for some, can be devastating.

"It's one of those dates you always remember," said Davies.

Davies was referred to the post-COVID recovery clinic at Vancouver General Hospital, an interdisciplinary program that brings together a team of experts, including doctors, nurses, social workers and physiotherapists. It also offers patients educational resources and classes.

However, that will soon change.

The Provincial Health Services Authority [PHSA] has confirmed that at the end of March, it will close its four regional post-COVID clinics and transition to one centralized, virtual program. Patients will no longer have access to a doctor, according to a post-COVID recovery clinic letter sent to a patient and reviewed by CBC News.

People with long COVID — sometimes referred to as long haulers — are concerned they are losing resources that were supposed to help them find answers and support for a condition still shrouded in mystery.

"It's so disappointing," said Davies, who suffers from headaches, body pain, extreme fatigue, rashes and post-exertional malaise.

"We need more doctors and not cutting the resources we already have."

Around 4,000 people are receiving treatment and support at post-COVID recovery clinics in B.C.

One centralized, virtual program

Four post-COVID recovery clinics are currently operating in B.C., with one in Vancouver, one in Victoria, and two in the Fraser Valley.

Following the transition, the entire program will operate virtually.

It will continue to provide educational resources and self-management tools from a team of experts, which PHSA says patients have found most beneficial.

Adrian Dix, B.C.'s minister of health, says there is no longer the demand for the regional clinics as referrals have dropped from 755 in May 2021 to 80 referrals in the last few months.

Creating a centralized, virtual system, he says, will allow the province to better support the program.

"This is increasing those services, increasing the research, increasing the education… and making that a permanent investment," said Dix.

Patients can no longer meet with doctors

As part of the current clinics, patients would meet with a doctor every few months.

According to the letter, that will no longer be an option. Instead, they have been told to visit a family doctor or a walk-in clinic.

It's an alternative that Davies says is misguided.

"I'm fortunate because I have a family doctor … who's very good and very supportive, but she has very little knowledge on all of this [long COVID] because it's just one tiny part of what she does," she said.

Adriana Patino has been suffering from long COVID for more than 25 months. She's the administrator of the long COVID Canada Facebook group, which has more than 3,500 members.

She says many long-haulers don't have a family doctor as the province currently faces a critical shortage, and general practitioners aren't always knowledgeable about long COVID as it's such a new condition.

In B.C., it's estimated that nearly one million people don't have access to a family doctor, according to Doctors of B.C.

"Leave the doctors available. They need to have doctors available for patients," she said.

Both women agree that access to doctors specialized in long COVID is crucial to their recovery.

Focusing on education

While the announcement has been criticized by many long haulers, some people, like Cathy Williams, see it as the program prioritizing its most beneficial elements.

Williams joined the post-COVID recovery clinic more than a year ago. Since then, she has found the educational resources and classes to be incredibly helpful in understanding her condition.

Much of the program, she says, was already delivered online.

"If they're going to pull the doctors from the program, I don't think it's going to be that much of a harm to the program because it's about learning how to deal with what we have and how to carry forward with life," said Williams.

However, she says she does have a family doctor she can turn to, an inaccessible luxury for many B.C. long haulers.