The more articles I read on the state of the health system, the standoff between the minister and general practitioners, the approximately 800,000 orphan patients now taken care of by family medicine groups (GMF), the bonuses that receive doctors who agree to take care of orphan patients, the more I begin to think that we are being told nonsense.
On the other hand, in 2023, I had to renew my prescriptions for two medications that I have been taking for 21 years. My prescriptions expired on June 20, 2023. I finally managed to get a 10-minute appointment with a doctor on December 19, 2024. Six months from now. Numerous calls to the first line access counter (GAP), to the access counter for orphan clients and to the pharmacy later.
However, on December 21, 2022, I received a letter from the Régie de l’assurance santé du Québec which announced to me the good news “that a group of doctors will take charge of your medical file from December 21, 2022 » (the bold characters are from the management). “This means that, if you need a medical consultation, you have privileged access to the clinic assigned to you,” I could read there.
Surprise: the appointment I finally got was not at the clinic I was assigned to at all! You should know that even if you are assigned a group of doctors, you cannot contact them directly: you must always go through the GAP.
So when I hear the Minister of Health Christian Dubé say that there are now 800,000 orphan patients who are cared for by GMFs, I understand that this is what the official figures show him. But this is absolutely false. However, this is what I read on the Radio-Canada website, on May 27, 2024, regarding the letter of understanding initialed by the government and the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec in May 2022. “The initiative will have enabled hundreds of thousands of Quebecers, until now without a doctor, to obtain care. […] It will also have had a cost. A bonus of $120 per patient treated is paid. »
Did the doctors at the GMF who are supposed to have taken care of me receive the $120 promised for having done so? So, if so, I hope that a clean-up will be done, that we will be able to demonstrate that these premiums were paid for patients who were actually cared for.
This health system has literally become a tower of Babel. The patients are not happy, but neither are the doctors. Neither the nurses nor the attendants. Nor anyone internally. And we add a layer of managers.
What would certainly be a good start is to consult those who are on the ground, listen to them and trust them. And perhaps even take an interest in the experience of these orphan patients, who are neither statistics nor averages on a dashboard.