Doctors in British Columbia are frustrated by lack of access to hospital beds for elective procedures for their patients. Doctors in P.E.I., Nova Scotia and British Columbia are concerned about access to long-term care beds for theirs.

The long waits for access to advanced diagnostic services are worrying doctors in Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan, while Quebec physicians are complaining about access to drugs and medical equipment.

And all across the country, doctors are getting fed up with trying to overcome the shortcomings of the health-care system, the president of the Canadian Medical Association said Tuesday as it and two other organizations representing physicians released the second wave of findings from a national survey of doctors conducted last year.

"Governments must understand that the system's greatest assets, health care professionals, are fed up with working harder and harder to fill in the gaps," Dr. Albert Schumacher said in a statement.

The survey of 21,000 doctors was conducted by the medical association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

The Federation of National Specialty Societies of Canada, which represents 39 medical and surgical specialty organizations, said the findings highlight that there will be inadequate numbers of doctors in medical specialties to fill the country's needs.

"The results indicate that the health-care system and specialty care is in crisis across the country. Aging specialists can no longer work as hard or as long to meet patients' needs for access to specialists," said federation president Dr. John Scovil.

The first wave of the survey's findings, released in late October, showed that over the next two years, 3,800 doctors plan to retire and 26 per cent of doctors plan to cut back their hours - developments that will significantly exacerbate the existing doctor shortages, the organizations warned.

The first release, which focused on the countrywide findings, reported that 60 per cent of doctors across Canada either had closed practices or were limiting the number of new patients they were accepting.

The second wave of findings focused on regional results; it showed that on the provincial and territorial level, the situation varies widely.

For instance, half of Saskatchewan family doctors have no restrictions on new patients. But only nine per cent of doctors in P.E.I. and 13 per cent in Ontario accept new patients.

The regional data also point to looming problems for Newfoundland and Labrador, where 10 per cent of physicians indicated they planned to leave the province within the next two years.

"Our governments have committed to universal access to care, a principle enshrined in the Canada Health Act, but we are seeing signs that this very principle is being challenged by changes in physician resources," said Dr. Alain Pavilanis, president of the college of family physicians.

The second report from the survey also highlights concerns about the availability of maternal and newborn care across the country. Over a third of family doctors do not deliver babies or offer pre-or postnatal care for mothers or newborn care. In Prince Edward Island and Quebec only seven and eight per cent of family doctors respectively perform deliveries.