Key takeaways:
- Province aims to unite patients with their family doctors within 72 hours.
- In a report released Sunday, Health Minister Christian Dubé said he approved the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec’s exposure to seeing access to front-line health services differently.
Quebec has reached an accord in principle with the federation representing general practitioners to give Quebecers easier access to front-line care.
In a report Sunday afternoon, the government stated that under the contract, those already allocated to a family physician would be able to see them or another one in the family medicine group (GMF) within 36 to 72 hours, relying on their clinical condition.
To attend to urgent requirements, doctors will have to set aside time typically for appointments.
Patients presently on Quebec’s waiting list for a household doctor — the Guichet d’accès à un médecin de famille (GAM) — will be able to use a one-stop online service called the Guichet d’accès à la première ligne (GAP), which is nowadays under development, to consult various types of health-care professionals within a “reasonable” timeframe.
Also read: Suspected polar bear spotted on Gaspé peninsula, SQ cautions citizens
In an interview on Radio-Canada’s Le Téléjournal, Health Minister Christian Dubé said that Quebecers who go through the GAP will also be able to get an appointment within 36 to 72 hours, counting on their clinical condition.
He also said the agreement will see some 500,000 Quebecers, or half of those without a family doctor in the region, slowly registered with a family doctor, beginning with the most vulnerable patients, by March 31, 2023.
On Sunday, Dubé applauded the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ)’s exposure to seeing access to front-line health services differently.
“The deal in principle … is the outcome of some months of discussions, sometimes severe, but always with the shared idea that the status quo is no longer an option in terms of access,” he stated.
Source – cbc.ca
