Yes, I am. We're looking for answers.
Evidence of meeting #20 for Health in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was doctors.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #20 for Health in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was doctors.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
—in three minutes or less.
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
The “why” is we're now catching up—
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
We need to collectively ramp up our mandate around social accountability.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
An example of what's happening in Quebec.... In Quebec, a decision has been made that one needs to address the distribution of physicians. So there is some regional health human resource planning.
So if I'm a resident in family medicine, at the beginning of my residency I'm looking at all those regional health human resource plans to see where there is a need for a family doctor. I start negotiating with that regional health authority because I know the needs are in certain areas and not necessarily in downtown Montreal.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
So do they pay them more to go to these communities where doctors don't want to go?
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
I think there are some financial incentives, but I think the Government of Quebec has been pretty clear that physicians need to go where they are needed.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
Sometimes they go there and then a few years later they go back to where they always wanted to be, which might be a city where there's more business or where their family lives, right?
What could we do about that?
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
That speaks to the importance of the role of the community around the retention of physicians.
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
It works a little bit. I don't think we can necessarily expect a physician to go to a rural community based on a regional plan of health human resources and stay there for 25 years.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
I live in Oakville, Ontario. It's a wealthy community, a suburb about 40 minutes from Toronto. We have a doctor shortage in Oakville. No one seems to understand why.
Can you shed any light on that?
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
I don't think I can shed any light on that in a specific manner. Again, I will say that I think we owe, to some extent, a level of responsibility in trying to instill in our practitioners that practice of full scope. But also understand that other providers just as Danielle talked about...we need to better understand that mix and how we can get those people to work together.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
Okay, a lot of people would say the pay-for-service model is a failure. We end up with churn in some doctors' offices, where you go there and there are 15 people who have the flu or a cold, and the doctor is trying to get them through. They might see 70 patients a day. That is not good health care.
How should we pay doctors so Canadians get the best quality care?
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
I would suggest alternate payment models that are—
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
It's where you get a payment per year, per patient, that is within your panel. Your responsibility, then, as a practice, not only as a sole family doctor but as a practice is to look after that population.
9:40 a.m.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, College of Family Physicians of Canada
I just gave some examples of family health teams where there have been some improvements. I think in the U.K....
Do you want to speak to that?
9:40 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
That is the system in the U.K., and again every system has its risks and benefits, but that is a potentially desirable system.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
I'll just tell a purely personal story and I'll keep it very brief.
I've now been seeing a naturopath for the last two years and I'm getting better results for my own personal situation. I'm getting better results from a naturopath, so I have to pay out of my own pocket for that. On occasion, I also see a chiropractor. I pay out of my own pocket. Well, I guess that our health care plan covers parts of it, anyway.
So I'm getting better care from doctors who don't really get the full respect of the health care system, and I'm concerned about that. Why can't people get more choices? Why does everything have to be the allopathic model, that everything's driven and controlled by allopaths?