Find a solution
The government knows the solution, but it is doing nothing to fix the problem. Many actions taken by family physicians can be performed by other professionals. It would cost less and it would free the doctors. We have known for a long time that paying physicians on a fee-for-service basis leads to abuse, and we are doing nothing. This government has not shown me that it is different from others in finding a solution. Yet there are examples in other countries, examples that he could follow.
Louise houle
First step
A step in the right direction! It is urgent to review the organization of work and the allocation of financial resources in the health network. There is no shortage of money in the system, but it is misused and badly distributed! To correct the situation, we must first measure, and it seems to me that is what the minister is trying to do.
Christian Massé
Enlarge the front door
I sincerely believe that we have come to the end of the “doctor as the only gateway to the system” system. Other health care professionals, including nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and pharmacists, can be educated as part of opening up the system. The term “family doctor” is inappropriate, as those who follow members of the same family from birth to death are extremely rare. Let’s look at Ontario, where nurse practitioners really follow all members of the same family: access to health care is usually done within 24 to 48 hours by a professional who knows the person in need of care well! Who will dare?
Micheline Ulrich
First come, first served
For a service to citizens to be fair, it is necessary to apply the principle of first come, first served. This implies that physicians must be required to use the RAMQ waiting list to admit a new patient. However, this is not at all what is happening at the moment! Many physicians themselves choose their patients based on their interests. For someone like me, who has been on the waiting list for more than two years and who no longer has any service from his FMG because his family doctor has retired, it is truly appalling.
Mario Marchand
Incompetence
The iron fist in a velvet glove extended to family doctors announces a gigantic fiasco. I am 76 years old and I fear losing my doctor, that he will retire after all these legs from the accounting ministers. What incompetence of a government that keeps bragging about being the “best” in America!
Claudette Aubert, Bromont
New ideas
Luckily, we live in a democracy where the helping hand is a given. Doctors will have the chance to reorganize themselves and propose necessary changes in the organization of the health system. There is room for new ideas from below. Let us hope that the Minister will be able to take note of this and modify the structures and responsibilities.
Marc Beaulieu
Keep the ship afloat
Access to a family doctor is a problem that has existed for almost 20 years. Family medicine attracts fewer applicants than specialization. Since the governments of the time did not find solutions to increase the number of candidates going into general medicine, a solution is now needed to remedy the problem of access to family physicians. When the storm is raging, what is important is to keep the ship afloat.
Pierre G. Pouliot
Unicorns
The Minister and the expert group from the Ministry of Health know full well that this new tool for appointments will be useful, hopefully, in facilitating access, but we also know that we should not be blinded. by this “miracle” announcement. Where are we with hiring full-time nurses? Where are we with the hiring of administrative staff? The minister gives the impression of believing in unicorns. It will take a lot more to restore the desire for the next generation to invest in this network which does not seem to care much about the humans who work there.
Michel legros
New problem
This is the madness of accountants! Already, my family doctor (for 20 years) no longer has time to see me, just a phone call, that’s all. No check-up, no pressure test, nothing, niet. Add in the weekends and night shifts, and doctors will be in the same dire situation as nurses. They will all fall one after another from exhaustion. This is not a solution, it is an even worse problem!
Victoria Ariza
Acknowledgement
Not really. Improving health care requires the recognition of all professionals, of all categories, able to do much more than at present. I don’t need to see a family doctor every year when I’m well – health comes from a healthy lifestyle and inheritance. But I want to have access to it if I find that I have a problem that persists and causes me concern.
Colette Boisvert
Resignation of Minister
The first step towards reform or improvement of the health system must inevitably pass through the resignation of Minister Christian Dubé. Having paid all my life to have access to a functioning health system, I cannot accept that I no longer have access to it when I need it most.
Jacques Picard, retired