Fewer doctors for Montreal
Health minister Christian Dubé has explained why he’s directing more new doctors to work outside Montreal: our general practitioners don’t work hard enough. Hey, those suburban CAQ voters need tender loving care, you know!
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Kate
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Ephraim 21:54 on 2021-10-08 Permalink
If the government was required to list the number of people waiting for a family doctor in each zone of Quebec as well how long the longest request is.
mare 00:45 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
My doctor’s latest appointment that can be booked is at 16h00. I have been in his waiting room several times until 19h00 before he worked through all of his patients. During Covid he once called me even later for a tele-health call. He gets paid $59.70 per consult. He took over the patients of two doctors who quit and left Quebec (or the public system). He works super hard and I hope he doesn’t burn out (he’s in his fifties) or also leaves. This must feel like a stab in the back, and it’s not the first.
dhomas 07:56 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
If we’re saying things just to say things: Dubé doesn’t work hard enough. I have nothing to prove this, so just take my word for it.
Seriously, though, what a piece of shit. Fuck this guy and fuck the CAQ.
ant6n 07:58 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
hear hear
Spi 14:02 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
Although his rational isn’t entirely flawed (that people should be seen where they live and Montreal doctors should be treating less off-island residents) in practice it’s impractical and not going to do anything. Do people just switch doctors for fun? Unless you tell people you’re going to get kicked off your Montreal doctors patient list they are very unlikely to.
Wouldn’t a sensible approach be to require those doctors that open practices in adjacent to Montreal suburb (read laval) have a % of their patient list be from Montreal?
DavidH 14:12 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
My son’s former GP left the profession before she had to work too hard within the public system. She isn’t forty yet and threw away all of her schooling for a ‘regular’ job where she could see her kids more often. Making people work harder is part of the problem, not the solution.
The same is true for nurses and every other job experiencing a dearth. These new problems the are inflicting on doctors will only push them away from Quebec or from the profession altogether. As usual.
Kevin 14:26 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
The Prem system is a massive failure.
The province cannot force people to only see doctors near their home. The province cannot force doctors to refuse patients who live too far away.
If the province wants doctors to be more efficient, go after the patients who skip appointments.
Blork 15:04 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
My family doc’s office is walking distance from my job, so pre-COVID that was perfect. I’ve been with him for more than 20 years (and since before I moved off-island). No reason to change doctors when I moved to Longueuil since every single time I have ever gone to see him was during working hours, and since my job is so close to his office it would have made no sense to change.
I’m sure I’m not the only person who prefers their doctor be closer to where they spend their days than where they spend their nights and weekends.
Now, with WFH being made somewhat permanent at my job, it means more of a trek to go see him. But I’d still rather stay with a doctor I know than switch to one I don’t. My fear now is that this new plan will force him to take more patients, making it harder to see him, and that he will just say FTS and retire instead of working 60 hours a week.
jeather 22:56 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
Yeah, I don’t exactly blame people who moved out of Montreal but kept their local doctors, because it’s not like you can find a doctor in the suburbs either, but the fact is that if GP numbers are based on population, the goverment needs to force GPs to only see local patients somehow (they know your address, they could certainly do this if there were any interest politically in doing it, but there’s not, because it’s just about punishing Montreal). This would have the benefit of making CAQ voters who commute angry about the PREM plan also.
Kevin 23:40 on 2021-10-09 Permalink
Jeather,
They legally can’t. It violates the constitution. Why they keep trying after two decades of failure is proof that bureaucracies only exist to self perpetuate.
jeather 09:46 on 2021-10-10 Permalink
Kevin,
I assume it could violate the constitution to tell patients they can’t see a non-local doctor, but does it violate the constitution to do the reverse? (Do we mean Health Care Act? I read it but didn’t see anything obvious about that, though of course this is not my field at all.)
I hate the PREM system deeply, and also I think the way it is enacted is proof it’s about rewarding and punishing various voters, but even if it were done more fairly, I would not support it.
steph 12:17 on 2021-10-10 Permalink
If only montrealers would stop voting the CAQ… oh yeah, we didn’t. I think montreal should start fighting for it’s autonomy, clearly this province doesn’t have our interest at heart.