Provincial - Family Medicine - Palliative Care

University of British ColumbiaProvincial, British ColumbiaCompetitive stream

Enhanced skills (FM/ES) match

Family medicine residents applying for a PGY-3 year (the "+1").

Also at UBC, outside the CaRMS match: Palliative Medicine (Category 2), 12 weeks (up to 3 months), for residents (PGY-2) and practising or certified family physicians. Applications: Closed 8 Sep 2026 (as of 10 Oct 2026). See it ›: Palliative Medicine (Category 2), on the list of programs applied for at the school

From the school’s own pages, not CaRMS; you apply to the school, on its dates. Confirm on the school’s page before you apply.

CaRMS program description, FM/ES 2027 match, last approved 27 Aug 2026

Positions (approx. quota): 5 positions
Length: 1 year
Stream: Competitive
Discipline: Family Medicine - Palliative Care
Applications per year: 0–50
Applicants offered interviews: 51–75%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 34609

Bands are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS. They describe past cycles, not your odds.

Summary

This 1-year UBC enhanced skills program trains family physicians in palliative care.
Rotations include introductory, advanced, community and ambulatory palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, and 10 weeks of electives/flex/research.
All residents complete 4 weeks of mandatory rotations outside the Lower Mainland, and a scholarly project with dedicated time is required.

Training

Setting

Academic / tertiary hospital
Urban community
Regional community

Sites

15 teaching sites

Burnaby Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)
Royal Columbian Hospital
Surrey Memorial Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Show all 15

Abbotsford Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)
Peace Arch Hospital
Eagle Ridge Hospital
Vancouver General Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)
Richmond Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)
Lionsgate Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)
St. Paul's Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)
Royal Jubilee Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)
Palliative Outreach Resource Team (Victoria)
Nanaimo General Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) and community
BC Children's Hospital and Canuck Place Children's Hospice
BC Cancer (Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, Victoria)

Rural exposure

Optional rural rotation

Research

Required · scholarly or quality-improvement project · protected time

Getting around

A car is required

Highlights

Mandatory 4 weeks of rotations outside the Lower Mainland, e.g. Victoria, Nanaimo, Kelowna or Whitehorse.
Residents attend the two-week General Practitioner in Oncology Course during the oncology rotation.
Academic days shared with a cohort of 6-10 family medicine and subspecialty palliative residents.

By year

Not stated on CaRMS page

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single year.

Introductory Palliative Care (8 weeks)
Geriatrics (4 weeks)
Medical and Radiation Oncology/ GPO (6 weeks)
Ambulatory Palliative Care (4 weeks)
Advanced Palliative Care (8 weeks)
Community Palliative Care (8 weeks)
Electives/ Flex/ Research (10 weeks)
Vacation (4 weeks)

Selection

Application file components

CV
Electives
Examinations
Extra-curricular
Leadership skills
MSPRs
Personal letters
Reference documents
Research/Publications
Transcripts
Other file component(s)

Return of service

Not stated on CaRMS page

Applications per year

0–50

Applicants offered interviews

51–75%

Interviews

Dates (FM/ES 2027 match)

15, 16 and 17 Oct 2026

Mode

Virtual

Format

MMI or rotating station

Programs can change interview dates. Confirm on carms.ca.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Salaries from April 2027.

Annual salary by PGY level, British Columbia
Level	Annual salary
PGY-3	$86,655 / year

One provincial scale for British Columbia, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing PGY-3, the level FM/ES residents usually start at. Yours depends on your training so far.

Benefits

Benefits as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024; check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual vacation: 4 weeks
CMPA dues paid: Yes. Mandatory
Dental plan: 100% Premiums Paid
Educational leave: Yes
Extended health insurance: 100% Premiums Paid
Frequency of calls: 1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite
Life insurance: 100% Premium Paid
Long-term disability insurance: Yes 100% Premiums Paid
Maternity leave: 17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave
Meal allowance: No
Provincial dues (% of salary): 1.5%
Provincial health insurance: 100% Premiums Paid
Sick leave: Yes
Statutory holidays: 2 x pay plus extra day with pay

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 in 4 in-house

The union agreement’s cap for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. Check with the program.

RDBC agreement, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2029.

Teaching sites

Burnaby Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (Burnaby)
Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster)
Surrey Memorial Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (Surrey)
Abbotsford Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (Abbotsford · rural or distributed site)
Peace Arch Hospital (White Rock)
Eagle Ridge Hospital (Port Moody)
Vancouver General Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (Vancouver)
Richmond Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (Richmond)
Lionsgate Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (North Vancouver)
St. Paul's Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (Vancouver)
Royal Jubilee Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) (Victoria · rural or distributed site)
Palliative Outreach Resource Team (Victoria) (Victoria · rural or distributed site)
Nanaimo General Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) and community (Nanaimo · rural or distributed site)
BC Children's Hospital and Canuck Place Children's Hospice (Vancouver)
BC Cancer (Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, Victoria)

Hospital facts

Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program, and are not a ranking. We match names to the province’s lists by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

Burnaby Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to Burnaby Hospital (Burnaby) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 8,388 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,058 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Columbian Hospital

Matched to Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 4,798 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 1,447 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Surrey Memorial Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 11,911 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,849 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Show facts for 9 more sites

Abbotsford Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre (Abbotsford) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 6,232 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 1,667 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Peace Arch Hospital

Matched to Peace Arch Hospital (White Rock) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 8,039 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,036 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Eagle Ridge Hospital

Matched to Eagle Ridge Hospital (Port Moody) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 6,014 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 1,496 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Vancouver General Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to Vancouver General Hospital in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 13,790 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 3,855 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Richmond Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to Richmond Hospital (Richmond) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 6,446 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 1,680 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Lionsgate Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to Lions Gate Hospital (North Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 10,660 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,762 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

St. Paul's Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 8,691 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,240 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Jubilee Hospital (Palliative Care Unit)

Matched to Royal Jubilee Hospital (Victoria) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 14,532 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 3,973 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Nanaimo General Hospital (Palliative Care Unit) and community

Matched to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (Nanaimo) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 9,004 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,040 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

Contacts

Grouped by the titles CaRMS lists. The program office (administrators and coordinators) usually answers questions about the program and applying; the director leads the training.

Program officeadministrators and coordinators

Dian.Sutanto@ubc.ca

Dian Sutanto · Palliative Care Program Administrator

604-806-9686 ext 64941

Lindsay Gowland
Enhanced Skills Program Manager

Program directors

Dr. Shannon Bunn
Palliative Care Program Director
Dr. Rob Saona
Enhanced Skills Program Director
Email on the CaRMS page(opens in a new tab)
Dr. Anmol Lamba
Enhanced Skills Assistant Program Director
Anmol.Lamda@ubc.ca

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

Location

Provincial, British Columbia

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 8 Oct 2026.