The end of the agreement on accessibility between family doctors and the government creates a lot of uncertainty. This is particularly the case in a medical clinic in Magog, where there are fears for the survival of an effective model that has proven itself.
Mario Bettez has been an orphan patient for six years. He got an appointment at the Clinique Médicale du Lac by calling 811.
“I had to have a form filled out for my driving license and also have a shoulder problem checked out. The system worked well to get my appointment,” he said.
Claude Thibodeau lives with diabetes. The family doctor who followed him retired.
“It lasted for a few years, until I received a letter telling me that the GMF du Lac was taking care of me. Since then, things have been going very well, I am reassured and I can speak to a nurse the same day when I call,” he said.
The two men from Orford are among the 13,500 patients who received a consultation in this GMF in the last year. A result that management attributes to the multidisciplinary working model. Physiotherapists, kinesiologists, social workers, psychologists, nurses and doctors share the task.
Most of these professionals are paid thanks to a bonus provided for in the collective registration agreement signed between the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) and the government, which will end on May 31.
“The end of the agreement means that the resources we have committed, we no longer have the funding to pay for them,” fears the doctor responsible for the GMF, Dr Caroline Langlais. If we can no longer have these resources like physiotherapists and nurses, well that calls into question the availability that doctors will have because if we are able to see so many people it is because we share the task.
The FMOQ and the government must negotiate in order to agree on what will happen starting June 1. Dr. Langlais is asking for at least the status quo until a new agreement is reached.
