20 western Quebec doctors leaving due to controversial bill
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Western Quebec’s health authority says it’s worried that 15,000 people there may be in the process of losing their family doctor. However, fewer doctors are visiting and fewer patients are being affected than before.
By mid-December, when the Coalition Avenir Québec backed down and made changes to its controversial Bill 2, the group representing family doctors in western Quebec He said that 41 of them are going.
Health authority CISSSO told Radio-Canada on Monday that 24 family doctors and nine specialists have finalized their departures since Bill 2 was passed in late October.
The number of specialist departures is considered normal, CISSSO said, but estimates that about 20 of the 24 departing family doctors are leaving because of Bill 2.
The number of patients worried about losing their family doctor has decreased From about 37,000 in early December About one in 15,000, or about one in every 25 people. At the time Bill 2 passed, about 55,300 people there already did not have access to a family doctor or family health group.
“The whole system has been affected. These doctors were working everywhere,” Dr. Marcel Guilbault said in French about the doctors’ departure. He is the medical director of Territorial Department of Medical FamilyFamily physician group of that area.
“Replacing these guys is really a puzzle.”
Health Minister Sonia Bélanger’s office declined to comment on the Outaouais numbers when asked by Radio-Canada and referred questions to Santé Québec, which did not respond to questions by deadline.
long standing disagreement
Original version of Bill 2 It will come into effect from January 1 this year, linking doctors’ pay to performance targets to motivate them to see more patients during a shortage of family doctors.
It followed Bill 106 last MayAfter which there were stalled talks with doctors and experts till 2023.
Bill 2 also imposed steep penalties for doctors who stopped certain types of training in protest of Bill 106.
Doctors opposed the changes, saying they would Encouraging a dangerous focus on quantity of care rather than quality.
Hundreds of doctors indicated they were interested in leaving the province, which Western Quebec was particularly affected. And it has close ties to Eastern Ontario.
caq government Changed route in December and eliminated penalties for missing performance targets and failing to comply with changes. It removed the obligation for family doctor groups to handle the province’s estimated 1.2 million orphan patients by January 2027.
Health Minister Christian Dubé cited difficult negotiations with unions representing doctors as his reason for resigning a week after those changes. Premier François Legault announced his intention to step down last month.
After all the turmoil, the redrafted Bill 2 is set to come into effect on February 28.
The province and family physician group FMOQ have also launched a committee to find family health care for 500,000 Quebecers.
Guilbeault said family health teams need more money if they are to take on more patients in the face of these departures.
Jean Pidgeon, spokesperson for SOS Outaouais and its work to improve health care in the region, said this needed to be done with a view to fixing Long-term local health underfunding.
