An agreement in principle has been reached between Quebec and the Federation of General Practitioners (FMOQ) to improve Quebecers’ access to primary care.
Posted at 3:11 p.m.
According to a missive from the FMOQ sent to its members on Sunday, “individual” participation in the measures found in this agreement will be “voluntary” and it provides for “no penalty or obligation”.
” [Nous] we sincerely believe that this agreement will not only improve access to care, for orphan patients among others, but that in the long term it will also allow family physicians to develop in a more stimulating, less cumbersome work environment where everything will no longer rest solely on their shoulders,” says FMOQ President Marc-André Amyot.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, had already threatened to sanction family doctors who do not care for enough patients.
FMOQ members will be informed of the details of the agreement during virtual sessions that will take place from May 9 to 19. Once these sessions are completed, they will be asked to approve the implementation of these new parameters within the framework of an electronic consultative vote.
Structuring measures
But already, the FMOQ is planning “the implementation of several structuring measures proposed in large part by the Federation, and extensively discussed during the tour of associations last fall”, including:
- Deployment across Quebec of First Line Access Points (GAP) to direct patients to the right professional and the right place.
- The entry into force of a new mechanism allowing a patient to be taken care of by a Group of Family Physicians (GMF) and not by a single family physician.
- Incentives favoring, for clients registered with a physician, access to more rapid appointments.
This agreement in principle does not in any way indicate the end of the FMOQ’s opposition to certain counterproductive articles of Bill 11.
Marc-André Amyot, President of the FMOQ
The FMOQ is fiercely opposed to Bill 11 and demanded that it be abandoned by the parliamentary committee in February. The union sees in it “an updated version of the distressing law 20” of former minister Gaétan Barrette. It is feared that Bill 11 will ultimately allow the imposition of coercive measures provided for in this law, measures that have never been applied, it must be remembered.
For his part, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, underlined Sunday the conclusion of this agreement, “the fruit of several months of discussions, sometimes intense, but always with the shared vision that the status quo is no longer an option. in terms of access”.
“I salute the willingness of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec to put forward new ideas and their openness to seeing access to the front line differently. We are aware that these changes will require support, resilience and the contribution of many partners, including health establishments and regional departments of general medicine (DRMG) in each region. I am convinced that together, we can change things for the good of the population and our health system,” he also said.