The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, is changing his tone in his negotiations with family doctors. A few days before the end of the agreement on accessibility, which allowed the establishment of the front line access window (GAP), he “commits not to be intransigent” and asks the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) to do the same.
The FMOQ accepts the minister’s request and says it is open to exploring new payment methods for the $120 bonus offered to doctors treating GAP patients.
“What Quebecers are asking us is not to be intransigent,” Minister Christian Dubé said in a press scrum Tuesday at the National Assembly. I have heard him a lot in the last few days, telling us “listen, you are in negotiations, can you try to find solutions?” »
Barely a few days ago, Minister Dubé declared in front of an audience of activists at the general council of the Coalition Avenir Québec that he would “never accept the population being taken hostage for negotiations”. Again on Monday, he said he was “concerned by the union maneuver” of doctors “to encourage the end of appointments for GAP patients”. According to Quebec, 5,699 medical consultation slots are available at GAP next week, compared to 18,000 to 23,000 usually. In Outaouais, no medical consultation slots are on the GAP schedule from 1er June.
After engaging in a standoff with family doctors in mid-April, the minister now believes that an agreement is possible by Saturday. “I have often seen in my career negotiations that end at the last minute because the parties have found solutions,” he said. If we have an agreement tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, it takes two minutes to make 20,000 appointments [au GAP] in the next weeks. »
The minister says he is “up for” extending the agreement, with “a few adjustments”. But its objective of offering “patients in need” the necessary medical consultations must be achieved. There is currently a lack of beaches, according to him. ” The Rendez Vous [du GAP]the way they are taken, and with the information I have now, they may not have always gone to the right client for whom this program was intended,” he indicated in press scrum.
Asked if he had gotten his money’s worth from GAP so far, Christian Dubé replied: “Not at the moment.”
FMOQ ready to “not be intransigent”
In interview with The duty after the minister’s press scrum, the president of the FMOQ, Dr Marc-André Amyot said he was “ready not to be intransigent”. “The minister tells us “I’m not sure that all the appointments were well used,” he said. I’m totally ready to watch this. I am completely ready for us to make good use of these meetings. However, it’s not me who decides who we put in these meetings. This is the GAP. If there are some that have not been used well and it is the responsibility of the clinics, I undertake to look at that. »
And is the $120 bonus non-negotiable? “The doctors have made commitments regarding this $120,” replies the Dr Amyot. Is this non-negotiable? Of course, if the government comes and says “it’s going to be $10”, that doesn’t make sense. We are ready to perhaps look at payment terms. A first $60, after that a second when the patient is seen. I’m not closed to that. » According to the Dr Amyot, this type of payment was not brought to the negotiating table — host Paul Arcand raised the possibility in an interview with him Tuesday morning.
The Dr Amyot believes that the government is “procrastinating a lot” on an extension of the “temporary” agreement. “What we are discussing, negotiating, is not something that will continue for the next six years. We are negotiating something that will continue for three months, six months, maybe a year, until we come up with a new remuneration model. »
With Marie-Michèle Sioui