2023-09-19 04:43:29
Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts will lose 14 family doctors in 24 months, or a third of the staff at the municipality’s two clinics. Doctors are retiring or heading to the private sector, leaving thousands of orphaned patients. This wave of departures risks increasing pressure on the Laurentian hospital, already among the busiest in the province.
What there is to know
- Fourteen family doctors will leave Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts by the end of the year. These departures began in January 2022.
- The Laurentians have one of the worst emergency occupancy rates among the 17 regions of the province.
- At least 10,000 people risk finding themselves without a family doctor because of this wave of departures. The Coalition Santé Laurentides is concerned that patients are turning to the emergency rooms of hospitals in the region.
The Sommets family medicine group (GMF) confirms that eight doctors have left or will retire by the end of the year. Four others will continue their activities in a private clinic and two will reorient their practice. These are therefore 14 of the 40 doctors who are leaving the two clinics in the municipality of 11,530 inhabitants.
“It’s huge, it’s really huge,” says France Lauzon, assistant to the doctor responsible for the GMF. “Doctors who retire follow a fairly large group of people. “So many patients will unfortunately become orphans,” she adds.
Neither the GMF nor the CISSS des Laurentides have recorded any data, but at least 10,000 people risk finding themselves without a family doctor.
The CISSS recommends that these orphan patients register with the Access Window to a family doctor. “People whose state of health is specific can ask that a nurse call them back for a health assessment in order to establish the priority of their file,” explains Dominique Gauthier, communications advisor at the CISSS des Laurentides.
“All people without a family doctor have automatic access to the services of the First Line Access Desk (GAP), by dialing 811, option 3,” she adds.
Marc L’Heureux, prefect of the MRC des Laurentides and president of the Coalition Santé Laurentides, is convinced that the departure of these doctors will have an impact on the Laurentian hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, but also on the hospital of Saint-Jérôme and that of Rivière-Rouge.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Laurentian Hospital, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts
” It’s certain ! Plus, the rest of us are used to full emergency rooms. We have records in several hospitals in the region,” laments the president of the coalition which brings together municipalities, doctors’ associations and community organizations, in particular.
Of the 17 regions of Quebec, the Laurentians have among the worst occupancy rates in emergency rooms. On Wednesday, this rate reached 156% while the provincial average is 120%. The time taken for treatment following triage was 4 hours 19 minutes, while the provincial average is 3 hours.
Mr. L’Heureux also notes that the doctors at the Rivière-Rouge hospital launched a cry from the heart, exactly a year ago, to denounce the lack of staff which has a direct impact on patient care. . More recently, doctors at Lachute and Saint-Eustache hospitals also sounded a similar alarm.
“We are hitting a wall!” exclaims Mr. L’Heureux. This is what we have been saying for three years because of underfunding. »
PHOTO ISABELLE MICHAUD, PROVIDED BY THE MRC DES LAURENTIDES.
Marc L’Heureux, president of the Coalition Santé Laurentides (CSL) and prefect of the MRC des Laurentides
The CISSS des Laurentides intends to mitigate the wave of departures thanks to the arrival of new doctors, in 2023 and 2024, who “will gradually establish themselves” in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. “The regional Department of General Medicine is concerned by the situation and is working closely with all medical managers to adjust, during the year, the distribution of medical staff so that priority needs are met,” specifies Dominique Gauthier, of the CISSS des Laurentides.
“As for the impact of these retirements on our emergency services, we remain highly vigilant: the growth of the population of the Laurentians is a real issue for our entire territory with a significant impact on access to front-line health services,” she continues.
“Left Behind”
The Dr Louis-Jean Deslauriers, doctor at the Clinique Médicale des Sommets, explains that his colleagues who choose to go to the private sector do so to better reconcile their family life and their professional life.
“I received an email from the 14 doctors asking if I might take some of their patients, the ones who need follow-up the most. But I myself am going to retire in two or three years and I currently have 1,300 patients,” says this 63-year-old doctor.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
The Sommets Medical Clinic, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts
He explains that patients who lose their family doctor will also lose access to “walk-in” services in the municipality’s two clinics and also at the Coop Santé de Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard which is attached to his GMF. .
“Before, we had “no appointments” and we saw people from Saint-Jérôme, Boisbriand or elsewhere who mightn’t get an appointment in their area. But there, we stopped receiving these patients in order to prioritize those in our clinic,” explains the doctor.
“By cutting out the “no appointment” and reserving it for patients in my clinic, the minute a doctor leaves, even if he has been following patients for 35 years, they no longer have a doctor and more access to the clinic. They have nothing left. They are left behind. They are in total nowhere,” laments the doctor who dreads the day, in the not-so-distant future, when he himself will cease to practice medicine.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
The Medical Clinic 201, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts
The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) claims that certain retirements were “predicted” by modeling. “These departures are planned in the number of places given annually to each region to renew the workforce. Thus, PREM planning models [plan régional d’effectifs médicaux] take into account, among other things, the mobility of doctors and retirements,” explains Marie-Claude Lacasse, media relations coordinator for the MSSS.
In 2023, five places were granted to the PREM for the Laurentides region. The 2024 PREMs will be announced shortly.
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