Family doctors are taking the population hostage by planning a significant reduction in patient appointments starting June 1.
The minister’s decision was made to no longer pay, as of June 1, the premium of $120 per year per patient registered with a group of family doctors (GMF) through the GAP (access desk to the first line). This bonus is provided for in an agreement between Quebec and the FMOQ (Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec) in 2022 and ending on May 31, 2024.
The minister doubts that this bonus is effective and wants a new agreement to improve access to services.
Offer solutions
The FMOQ is furious with the decision. Yet this premium represents a bill of more than 100 million per year for 910,000 patients registered with a family doctor. The government has the right to ask questions and adjust budgets.
Each time the State proposes demands to family doctors, their Federation opposes, objects, takes offense and asks to negotiate. Why don’t doctors have solutions to propose instead of waiting for proposals that are always to their liking? The leitmotif always seems to be against instead of collaborating to change things. This is the best way to have the population against the doctors.
Doctors themselves must offer solutions without always thinking about money. When there will be many more specialized nurse practitioners, Physician’s assistants with full rights to practice as there are in the United States, in the army and in other Canadian provinces, when medical procedures will be more delegated to other health professionals, the market will be much more competitive and my monopoly will be ended. You will then see that doctors will have a much more heart on their hands.
Proactivity instead of reactivity
In the meantime, in these times of shortage and budgetary restrictions, is it forbidden to have ideas, to offer solutions, in short to act. For every problem there is a solution; it’s about being proactive instead of reactive and stopping solving problems by always increasing the pot.
In his closing speech to the general council, Prime Minister Legault warned that “things are going to get heated with the doctors” and that “we are going to have to stand up. Doctors’ unions are opposed to change, but we must not give up like other governments.
The Federation of General Practitioners, like the Federation of Specialist Physicians, must change their mentality, question the services they provide to patients and organize themselves so that the public receives the care they are due. The credibility of medicine is at stake.
Photo provided by Yves Lamontagne
Photo provided by Yves Lamontagne
Yves Lamontagne, CM, OD, MD, former president of the College of Physicians of Quebec
