Legault threatens legislation to force family doctors to take on more patients
Premier François Legault is threatening short-term legislation to force family doctors to take on more patients.
In his inaugural speech on Tuesday, he said he was getting impatient and on Wednesday, in a press scrum, he went further to say that legislation would soon be considered if doctors do not comply quickly.
With only a few months to go before the election, the Legault government and the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens (FMOQ), which refuses to take the hard way, are set to engage in an arm wrestling match.
This is not the first time that the tone has been raised and that Premier Legault has threatened to brandish the legislative stick if doctors do not submit to Quebec's ultimatum, except that now, time time is running out, as the government is in the last year of its mandate, while the situation has continued to deteriorate.
In 2018, Legault's Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) had pledged to provide a family doctor to all Quebecers by the end of the mandate. At the time, there were 400,000 patients on the waiting list. Now, there are twice as many, more than 800,000, making the promise difficult -- if not impossible -- to keep by October 2022.
To hopefully reverse this trend, the premier said he is prepared to go "as far as a bill."
The fewer patients who have a family doctor, the more crowded hospital emergency rooms and walk-in clinics become.
In the past, however, wielding the stick rather than the carrot in front of doctors has yielded few results other than mutual distrust and a growing climate of tension between Quebec and the medical profession. Former health minister Gaétan Barrette had adopted Bill 20 in 2015, providing for financial penalties to be imposed on physicians who did not meet the government's productivity targets.
To explain the constant increase in the number of patients without a doctor, the FMOQ defended itself by arguing that there is a shortage of about 1,000 family physicians in Quebec, that general practitioners are required to work in CHSLDs and hospitals, which reduces their availability in the office, and that retirements are increasing.
The federation added that it is not true that physicians have a low productivity rate, when, on average, they work about 45 hours a week.
Family physicians take between 1,000 and 2,000 patients under their wing. However, having your name on a doctor's patient list does not automatically guarantee access to care or an appointment at the desired time.
At the same time, the government wants to impose a change in the way doctors are compensated in the near future, whereby fee-for-service payment would be replaced, in part, by the number of patients on their list. Quebec believes this could also help facilitate access to a family doctor.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 20, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Hackers release corporate data stolen from London Drugs
Retailer London Drugs says cybercriminals who stole files from its corporate head office last month have released some of the data after it refused to pay a ransom.
Toronto man falls off his chair after seeing $70M Lotto Max win in his bank account
A Toronto man who won $70 million in a recent Lotto Max draw literally fell off his chair when he saw the funds in his bank account.
Montreal-area high school students protest 'sexist' dress code
Approximately 50 Montreal-area students — the vast majority of them female — were suspended Wednesday after their school deemed the shorts they were wearing were too short. On Thursday, several students staged a walk-out to protest what they believe is a "sexist" dress code that unfairly targets girls.
Oilers' Henrique, Stars' Hintz out for Game 1 of West final
Top-line Dallas Stars centre Roope Hintz will still be out of the lineup for the Western Conference Final opener Thursday night against Edmonton, which is still without forward Adam Henrique.
'Looking over our shoulders': A killing looms large in a little B.C. town
Something shifted in the pretty little village of Lumby, B.C., after Tatjana Stefanski vanished. It used to be the sort of place where parents let their kids roam free or play in the local creek, but everything has changed.
What is 'slapped cheek disease' and should parents be concerned?
Despite its rough name, experts say most cases of 'slapped cheek disease' are mild and not a cause for concern.
American Airlines retreats after blaming a 9-year-old for not seeing a hidden camera in a lavatory
American Airlines has distanced itself from a court filing in which the carrier said a nine-year-old girl should have noticed there was a camera taped to the seat of an airplane lavatory.
Unknown Newfoundland soldier from the First World War heads back home from France after 100 years
Canadian soldiers and government officials arrived in northeastern France this week for a historic mission: returning an unknown Newfoundland soldier back home.
Calgary Philharmonic takes action following investigation into 'deeply troubling' comments by 2 musicians
The Calgary Philharmonic has confirmed its taking action after controversial online comments made by two members of the orchestra.