(Quebec) Quebecers will have to be patient: the government’s negotiations with family doctors could take “several months,” Prime Minister François Legault suggested on Friday.
And the impacts are being felt: the number of appointments offered on the First Line Access Counter (GAP) increased from 17,604 in the week of May 18 to 1,133 for the week of June 29.
At a press conference to take stock of the last day of the parliamentary session in Quebec, the CAQ leader said that his government was going to stand up to the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ), unlike previous governments, according to him.
An agreement that provided $120 for the care of each new patient ended on May 31, and since then, the number of appointment slots available through the GAP has dropped dramatically.
Mr. Legault said he would like family doctors to be “still responsible”, even if the FMOQ denies having given an order to its members.
“We will have to fight to the end” in the negotiations with the FMOQ, he said.
Asked whether he was telling Quebecers waiting for a meeting that the confrontation at the negotiating table was going to be long and arduous, Mr. Legault replied: “when I look at the state of the negotiations, we are very far from an agreement, it could take several months.”
But his team shortly after clarified that he was not responding regarding the renewal of the $120 premium for support, but rather regarding the renewal of the broader framework agreement with the FMOQ.
We assured that we did not want to “send the wrong message” in the delicate and difficult context of these negotiations.
Data on appointments offered through the GAP illustrates a downward trend as the May 31 deadline approaches. According to data from the Ministry of Health, in the week of May 25, there were 18,398 appointments accessible; the week of 1er June, 6396; the week of June 8, 5809; the week of June 15, 5400; the week of the 22nd, 3835; and the week of June 29, 1133.
Concerning the issues to be negotiated, last week, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, also launched a call for “courage” to the doctors’ federations, regarding the pricing of their procedures.
“Are we capable of having the courage to rethink some of our fees and our pricing to better take into account the aging population? Could we ensure that different pricing for going to the home could be better adapted to promote home care? »
During the question period on Friday, Mr. Legault said that there can never be a “significant” improvement in health care, services and accessibility if there is no “real taken care of by family doctors” and if there is no “flexibility” in negotiations with the nurses’ union, the FIQ.
The interim leader of the official opposition, Marc Tanguay, saw this as an admission of a poor record by the CAQ government.
“What did he just say?” […] So they never managed to improve health care. This is the Prime Minister’s own admission. It is in its sixth year, a record deficit, and, in health, we will never succeed in improving care. »