In Quebec, more than 420,000 children do not have a family doctor. Distraught, parents take hours, even days, to find a medical appointment for their little one.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
” Whenever [mon fils] is sick, it’s a hassle to find an appointment,” says Geneviève Tremblay, mother of a 3-year-old boy. Her little one had a family doctor when he was born, but he left the country two years ago. Since then, the toddler has been on a government waiting list.
A total of 427,763 children currently do not have a family doctor, according to figures from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) obtained by The Press. Of these, 56,869 are less than 1 year old, 86,805 between 2 and 5 years old and 284,089 between 6 and 17 years old.
When her son needs an urgent appointment, Geneviève Tremblay tries somehow to use the Bonjour Santé or Rendez-vous santé Québec platforms. “But meetings are rare. It’s almost impossible to find,” she laments.
It is then the race to find one.
Generally speaking, I can spend two to three hours constantly refreshing the platforms trying to find. By constantly trying again, you end up being the lucky number who gets a consultation, but it can be very long.
Geneviève Tremblay, mother of a 3-year-old boy
In her neighborhood, she says, mothers get up at midnight to find a consultation for their children. “It looks like it’s become the norm. We are all in competition to get our hands on something so rare that we are ready to get up in the morning to get a consultation, ”she laments. Families around him use several computers at the same time to get an appointment.
At the end of October, Geneviève Tremblay suspected that her son had an ear infection. She contacted the Guichet d’accès à la première ligne (GAP), a telephone line set up by the government which allows people without a family doctor to obtain a medical appointment. She says she was never called back. Distraught, she wrote a post on Facebook to ask those around her for solutions.
To his surprise, his appeal paid off. Last week, a specialist nurse practitioner, who came across her post, offered to take care of the toddler in the medical clinic where she works. This nurse, who has a higher university education, will now monitor the young boy’s state of health and will be able to prescribe, if necessary, treatments and medication, just like a family doctor. “I’m very happy, but I’m worried about the people still on the waiting list,” says the mother.
Hard-to-reach appointments
“As we speak, many parents do not yet have access to a fluidity to make appointments to answer their questions”, observes the DD Marie-Claude Roy, President of the Association of Pediatricians of Quebec.
According to her, it would not be necessary to have a family doctor assigned to each child. However, she believes that parents should have quick access to a health professional if needed, for example with a specialized nurse practitioner or a pharmacist.
Between the ages of 0 and 5, a lot happens, there are a lot of infections and development issues. We often need, as parents, to refer to a health professional.
The DD Marie-Claude Roy, President of the Association of Pediatricians of Quebec
The Dr Alain Papineau, president of the Quebec College of Family Physicians (CQMF), agrees. “It is important for a child to be monitored during their period of growth and development. [0 à 5 ans] “, he underlines, adding that this follow-up can be carried out either by a family doctor alone, or by an interprofessional team.
” It’s hell ”
Sophie Bélanger dreams of her son having easy access to a medical appointment when he needs one. Her 6-year-old son has been without a family doctor since 2019, the latter having also left the country. “It’s hell when you want to see a doctor. I refuse to go private, it’s against all my principles, but I know that at some point, I’m going to have to go, “drops Mme Belanger.
At the beginning of October, her boy was not feeling well. He was coughing, his nose was running and he had pain in one ear. “I contacted all the clinics to get an appointment, but it was full everywhere. I was freaking out. I am relatively resourceful, but I was unable to find a place for my child to see a doctor,” she recalls.
One of his friends told him about the first-line access window (GAP). “I didn’t even know it existed,” she says. On the phone, we gave him an appointment the same day. Once her boy was examined, Mr.me Bélanger asked the doctor if she could ask him a question about her child. She wondered about the visible glands in her neck. The doctor replied that if his question did not concern the reason for the consultation, he could not answer her.
“It’s been three years since my child saw a doctor and I’m not even allowed to ask about the lymph nodes in his neck,” laments the mother. If she wants an answer, she will have to go looking for a new date.