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Health system in catastrophic straits
Re: No concern about ‘diminished supply’ of doctors: ministry, May 9.
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“Recruitment and retention of doctors is ‘not a major concern,’ MOH suggests.” You’ve got to be kidding. Retired now for nine years and having practised as a family physician for the 40 years prior, I have never seen our health system in such catastrophic straits.
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A huge number of Ontarians without a family physician, emergency rooms disastrously overflowing, long wait times for none-surgical specialist appointments, and psychiatric referrals when I retired all but impossible — and certainly lower in availability, quality and duration than when I first started.
There are many models of payment for family doctors. British Columbia seems to have had significant success in its first year with what some have called a “transformative payment model” where these docs are compensated for patient visits, patient complexity and the hours of unpaid labour that are now an inevitable part of digitalized medicine. The demographics, both of population growth and aging, as well as physician aging and retirement, were all completely predictable but apparently ignored.
Yes, we need added numbers in our medical school but we also absolutely need to work, and work fast and diligently, on family physician retention and recruitment. The ball is now in Premier Doug Ford’s hands. We all hope he has what it takes to make this work.
David Esdaile, MD (retired family physician), Ottawa
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Rich don’t worry about health care
Re: Letter, Health Minister Jones is out of touch on the doctor shortage, May 10.
Lucie Masson’s letter was bang-on: as far as the rich are concerned, ain’t no doctor shortage, so why worry?
In downtown Ottawa alone, family doctors have fled the area for cheaper rents in the outlying districts (i.e., you now need a car for medical appointments.) Medical imaging facilities (x-rays and such) have likewise shut down, and the only options remaining (again, in far distant locales) are booked solid for months in advance.
But as long as Minister Sylvia Jones and her ilk have all the medical attention they need, there’s no problem. Which reminds me: as far as the upper crust are concerned, there’s no housing crisis either. Coincidence?
Jack Pyl, Ottawa
Canada Post isn’t a private business
Canada Post is proposing to scale back home delivery to save money. A drop in the bucket in terms of solving its financial problem, while it creates problems for those of us still receiving mail at home. For those not doing online banking, late payment of bills, resulting in penalties, is a very real possibility. It nearly happened to me last month.
The government should stop insisting that Canada Post is a business. This obsession with making a profit for everything must stop.
Catherine Devonport, Ottawa
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