When you go visit your family physician, you leave that appointment and your part of that visit is complete; however, on the other end of things, that family physician is now responsible for the administrative tasks that follow, such as updating the electronic medical records, completing medical forms, coordinating care across other agencies and providers, managing care-plans and more.
Additionally, not only is your family physician seeing patients within the clinic, but many are also working in other areas as well; long-term care facilities, hospitals and other specialized areas of practice.
Despite the fact that having a family doctor is something that Canadians are used to, Dr. Allison Adamus of Martensville Collective Health and Wellness stated that in her opinion, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to do away with that system. “It’s an enormous burden on one human being to think that they are responsible for 2000 other people’s health and well-being. It is a lot to burden, so it is no wonder that more grads aren’t wanting to take that on. The idea of doing away with family doctors would shake-up what a lot of people are used to, but what we have right now isn’t sustainable.”
Instead, Adamus believes that the care of patients should be shared as a team rather than the sole responsibility of an individual. “For example, instead of one family doctor, a patient belongs to a primary health team where their needs can be met by more than one person on that team. This gives better access to patients and also shares the responsibility of care amongst a group of health care providers,” Adamus explained.
Privately owned clinics are just like any other business where they are responsible for the expenses that come with the business; however, unlike other businesses, they are not paid by the “customers”, they are paid by the government, with the current system set up as a pay-per-visit and each patient having a 15 to 20 minute window. According to Adamus, who was once able to see approximately 32 patients a day, and now can barely fit in 22, but still receives the same amount of payment per patient, the needs of patients are increasing, which means limiting time to only 15 minutes per visit is unrealistic to provide appropriate health care.
“It takes more than 15 minutes to sort out health issues. This isn’t the 60’s anymore. There was much less that could be done back then, but now, we have medicines for everything, and complicated medicines that require follow-up. To try to solve a problem in 15 minutes is hard and it is not a system that works anymore.”
The payment that comes from each patient isn’t going directly into the physician’s pocket, as that is used to pay staff, purchase supplies, pay bills and everything else that is required on a day-to-day basis within the clinic.
For Adamus, a solution to the doctor shortage, not just locally, but province-wide would be to offer physicians in private clinics the option for a salary, which she believes would be more attractive for doctors, and also allow patients to feel better about their visits to the doctor.
Recently, the Government of Saskatchewan introduced a plan to recruit, train, incentivize and retain healthcare workers within the province. The $60 million plan will be taking place over the course of the next few years, with part of this plan to bring full-time permanent Nurse Practitioners into private clinic settings to help decrease waiting times, beginning October 1, 2022. In addition to this, there are also plans to streamline the process for internationally trained physicians to be able to practice medicine within the province. There will also be grants provided up to $50,000 to help recruit for positions in rural areas.
“Three nurse practitioner positions have been approved by the Minister of Health for the Martensville-Warman constituency. This is one step that is being taken to help clinics shorten wait times for walk-in patients while other initiatives continue to be worked on,” MLA Terry Jenson shared in the July/August Constituent Newsletter.
“As I’ve stated previously, the shortage of physicians in our communities is not unique and that all provinces are experiencing the same pressure. There is no one single solution to this very complex problem, but I know that from having regular communication with both Ministers that SHA and our other partners, including the Saskatchewan College of Physicians & Surgeons, are making progress on bringing more doctors into the province, and ultimately into the cities of Warman and Martensville,” Jenson noted.
For more information on the Government of Saskatchewan’s plan for health care within the province, visit, https://www.saskatchewan.ca/HHR.
