Community Physician Health and Safety Oversight Working Group

The newly formed Community Physician Health and Safety Oversight Working Group was created out of the 2022 Physician Master Agreement in order to help support community-based physicians in creating and maintaining safer offices. In order to support this Working Group, we are seeking two physician representatives to help support this first of its kind effort to improve physical and psychological safety for physicians in their offices.

This work is being facilitated through the Memorandum of Agreement on Physical and Psychological Health and Safety (the Agreement) that was negotiated as part of the 2022 Physician Master Agreement. This Agreement acknowledges a shared interest in supporting the needs of physicians working specifically in the community. This includes supporting physicians to be safe in their community offices as well as in meeting their obligations regarding occupational health and safety, psychological and physical health and safety, and violence prevention.

As part of the agreement, this work will be supported by SWITCH BC. SWITCH BC stands for Safety, Wellbeing, Innovation, Training and Collaboration in Healthcare and is a new organization focused on the health, safety, and wellbeing of everyone working in healthcare in B.C. The organizational model is a collaboration of unions, physicians and employers. They are working to support provincewide innovation, prevention and training, and enhancing the culture of safety in all healthcare workplaces in B.C. Funds are set out in the Agreement and allocated by the Provincial Physician Health and Safety Working Group (PPHSWG).