Introduced by Minister Dubé, Bill 11 to increase the supply of front-line services has caused a lot of ink to flow in recent days, and has generated many reactions. General practitioners have expressed that it will be , and we believe so, since the bill contains no measure that could increase the number of physicians or optimize their time. Yet this goal should be the first step in a project to improve access to health care.
Let’s say it again, there is on a waiting list for a family doctor, and they spend there on average . No wonder our ERs and clinics are overflowing. A bill that focuses on anything other than increasing the number of doctors completely misses the mark.
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If the government is running out of ideas for measures that could significantly expand the pool of doctors in Quebec, it could start by eliminating medical admissions quotas. One of behind this admissions limit in the past was to ensure that no doctor would find themselves unemployed upon graduation. Given the current shortage of doctors, this excuse no longer holds.
, Quebec took a step in the right direction when it decided to increase the admission quota for medical schools, but it will not be enough. Let the universities decide for themselves on their intake capacity by abolishing the quota.
Another way to increase the number of physicians would be to ease regulatory barriers to entry into the labor market for foreign-trained health professionals. We may forget, but Quebec currently has mutual recognition of the educational and professional qualifications of nurses and doctors. Despite this agreement, the procedures often take more than two years, and we refuse of requests. It is time to free these professionals from bureaucratic obstacles and welcome them with open arms.
Aside from measures that could increase the number of doctors, there is also room for improvement in working conditions, which affect the very attractiveness of the profession of family doctor. Indeed, care are replaced by administrative tasks which take up a considerable part of doctors’ days. If more tasks could be delegated to administrative staff, more time could be allocated to (new) patients.
Similarly, valuable time could be freed up for family physicians if the government continues to expand the scope of practice of other health care professionals, such as super nurses and pharmacists. allow administering the COVID vaccine is a concrete example that has highlighted the benefits of a better sharing of skills between professions. Not only was the population offered a varied choice of providers, but the vaccine was easily accessible to all.
While it is true that it is high time for an overhaul of the health care system in Quebec, one of the first steps in this transformation must be to increase the supply of services through measures that broaden the pool of physicians and contribute to optimizing their time, and not by the imposition of micromanagement techniques, as Bill 11 currently wants.
Miguel Ouellette, Director of Operations and Economist, and Maria Lily Shaw, Economist, Montreal Economic Institute
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca