Despite the imposing waiting lists for a family doctor, the Quebec Ministry of Health has given itself the directive of only replacing 75% of those who retire.
This was revealed on Tuesday by a senior ministry official, Martin Forgues, in the context of a trial in the Superior Court.
The department made that decision, he said, following the recommendation of its actuaries.
“Actuaries are asking us to consider 75% of retirements,” said the assistant general manager for frontline services. “If we had a higher number of doctors, we would replace 100%”.
The senior official was testifying in the legal action brought by a Montreal doctor, Dr.r Mark Roper, against the system used by the government to distribute family doctors on the territory, the regional medical staffing plans (PREM).
According to the Dr Roper, the PREM calculation method generates injustice and disadvantages Montreal. In the Faubourgs, Plateau-Mont-Royal and Saint-Louis-du-Parc sector, for example, the PREMs of 2022 estimated that there were 21 doctors too many, while the registration rate of 61% of patients ” is the worst in the province,” reads his motion for an injunction.
Necessity for regions
In his testimony, Mr. Forgues maintained that the abandonment of PREMs would be a disaster for the regions. “We would no longer have doctors in the regions,” he said, emphasizing that the model “aims to protect the regions” because doctors all want to work in Quebec and Montreal. »
The senior official also suggested that too much importance should not be given to the arrival of new family doctors because they take care of few patients at the start of their careers.
More than a million Quebecers are on the waiting list for the Family Doctor Access Window (GAMF), according to data from May 31.
According to the DD Amélie Desjardins-Tessier, who attended the trial, the government’s target of 75% is all the lower since doctors who retire are deemed to have more patients than the average. “The oldest doctors retiring, they have 4,000 patients and more, it takes four to replace them,” argued the head of the local table of the Regional Department of General Medicine in Montreal for the Côte-des sector. -Neiges–Metro–Park-Extension.
Transfer to 450
The PREMs in Quebec are determined by the Committee for the Management of Physicians in General Medicine, which is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Federation of General Practitioners.
However, the minister has the power to adjust the PREMs unilaterally afterwards. What the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, did this year by transferring a third of the positions of family doctors intended for Montreal in the 450, a decision which had caused an outcry.
The lawsuit brought by the Dr Roper is due to continue Wednesday with closing arguments from his attorney, Julius Grey, and the attorney representing the attorney general, Amelie Bellerose. The Court is presided over by Judge Dominique Poulin.
This trial comes as the government has sidelined its goal of assigning a family doctor to at least 85% of Quebecers. Instead, Minister Dubé wants to ensure that patients are cared for by family medicine groups (GMF).