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A Saskatchewan family doctor quitting the province over problems with the health-care system has appealed to the government to “build the bottom of the pyramid.”
In a column submitted to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix recently, Dr. Isabelle Richard, who trained in Quebec and practices in B.C. as well as Saskatchewan, said in the current state of health care in the province “no one wins here.”
Richard said the system in Saskatchewan “is a mess” and that it could look to other provinces for solutions that would attract more family doctors and specialists.
“Stop creating rules about the number of minutes for which it is appropriate to say I provided counselling to the patient. See the forest through the trees.”
She said in Saskatchewan family doctors’ pay schedule is “not competitive,” adding that in B.C. she is paid for her time as well as patient visits, which incentivizes good medicine.
Innovation fund aimed at improving access, care
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said on The Evan Bray Show today that he had read the opinion piece and the province was working towards the type of type of blended capitation model used in B.C.
“We just signed an agreement with the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA),” Moe said.
The $10 million innovation fund for Saskatchewan physicians was part of the SMA’s new contract, which was ratified in February.
The fund has a goal to “support physician-generated ideas that will deliver better access to primary care in the province,” with the key objectives of improving access and quality of care for patients, and to improve work-life balance for doctors.
Richard also had praise for the Quebec medicine group model where a patient has access not only to their family doctor but also follow-up services from other healthcare professionals. This model allows doctors to “offload tasks and optimize each encounter,” Richards said.
“Consultations are not systematically pooled” was another frustration for Richard.
“When I refer a patient to a specialist, I am often picking one like I would a name from a hat, without a clue of whose list is longest and who does what,” she said.
Richard said the reliance on walk-in clinics in Saskatchewan shifts care away from family practice saying “it’s more lucrative for doctors for see 45 patients in a day than 25,”adding that doctors in the province “are tired, frustrated and have all but given up on advocacy.”
Moe also said that recruiting healthcare professionals was not a problem exclusive to Saskatchewan.
“It is a Canadian challenge and we do talk about it actively at our Premier’s table,” Moe said.
He said that one improvement he thought was “going quite well” in the province was efforts to reduce emergency room pressures with the opening of the Urgent Care Centre in Regina and the one planned for Saskatoon, to be built near St. Paul’s Hospital.
“The numbers are starting to show an easier point of access,” Moe said.
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