Priority principle
With the current age pyramid, many doctors will be retiring while aging patients will need more family doctors. I wonder why in a context of “shortage” we do not think of applying the principle of priority. Family physicians could be reserved for those 60 or 65 and over or for younger people with chronic illnesses who need care coordination, a benefit offered by family physicians. For others, timely access to a physician as needed may be sufficient. It would be a fairer way to distribute limited resources collectively.
Line Leclair, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville
Risk factors
I have been a family physician for 38 years and the concept of annual examinations of an asymptomatic patient is long gone. There are recommended preventive check-ups that have been proven according to personal and family risk factors. I recommend the website Choisiravecsoin.org which establishes the recommendations according to the specialties. The recommendations are based on evidence. Patients need to understand that before requesting a test, they need to know its impact, consequences and whether it results in a change in treatment and prognosis. Our society can no longer support the “open bar”.
Lianne Lamy-Monnot, family doctor
New type of gift
Do you know what I give my spouse for the holidays? A gift card not from a clothing chain, but a gift card from a private medical clinic. In 2022, that’s where we are.
Christian Bernier
Will we be reimbursed?
Recently registered with the counter for access to a family doctor (our family doctor is retiring), I believe that we should set up a petition to force the government to reimburse us for all the care and consultations that we must seek privately.
Anne-Marie Cormier, Longueuil
Specialized Nurse Practitioner
You don’t need a family doctor, Mr. Lazure, you need to see a specialized nurse practitioner (SNP), who should be available at a locally accessible CLSC. We could very well open CLSCs everywhere, in all neighborhoods of the city, the suburbs, the countryside; these IPS call a doctor when the situation requires it (very, very rarely). You rarely need a doctor when you are able to get yourself to a clinic or hospital emergency room. When it’s urgent, I imagine the ambulance is called… It’s probably the College of Physicians that is obstructing the general deployment of IPS.
Francine Davis
Unnecessary exams
Although agreeing with having access to the public system, the famous health check is the perfect example of what contributes to clogging up the system. This short-sighted vision from another era must evolve towards the right service with the right professional at the right time. Stop unnecessary exams.
Jean Chatrauneuf
Bad news
Santa Claus will not pass this year. Our family doctor has just sent us a letter announcing that he will be retiring on the 1er February 2023, that he no longer makes appointments, but that he will respect the appointments scheduled until 1er february. He informs us of the procedure with the Access Desk for Orphan Clients: we can only register on February 2, 2023. It is impossible to start the search for a new family doctor before this date. In the meantime, if need be, you have to clog the emergency room. Kudos to the flexibility of a deficient system…
Guy Vaillancourt
Private at our expense
I fully share Mr. Lazure’s concerns. My husband and I have been without a family doctor for three years now. We had to turn to the private doctor, at our expense, to obtain the follow-ups required by our medical condition. The first-line access window (GAP) is available to orphan patients, but you have to be very “patient” to be able to get the line, which has never been possible for us in the Outaouais. Yet it would be so easy to set up a telephone reminder system, as my insurance company recently did, to avoid long hours of waiting on the telephone. As Mr. Lazure rightly points out, there are two classes of citizens in Quebec when it comes to front-line care, which is completely unacceptable. At the very least, tax advantages should be put in place for those who have to pay out of pocket for the care they cannot obtain because they do not have a family doctor.
Odette Mercier, Gatineau