“It’s a completely unbearable situation”: the worst shortage of family doctors hits the CHSLDs of Montreal

2023-06-02 19:30:00

An “unbearable” crisis is hitting the CHSLDs of Montreal hard, as a record of nearly 1,000 vulnerable and elderly residents will soon find themselves without family doctors, and risk bogging down emergency rooms at any time.

“We have been saying for a long time that we are going to hit a wall, but here we are in it and not nearly, notes the D^r Michel Vachon, President of the Association of General Practitioners of Montreal (AMOM). It’s a completely unbearable situation, it’s a state of crisis in Montreal right now.”

About 700 residents of Montreal’s long-term care centers (CHSLDs) currently do not have regular family physicians.

At least 1000 orphans

According to AMOM, 300 to 400 other patients will find themselves in the same situation within a few weeks, for a total of 1,000 or more. This is unheard of, according to the Association.

Although the shortage of family doctors is affecting all of Quebec, seniors in CHSLDs are even harder hit. Dementia, infection, mobility problem: all kinds of reasons require urgent medical consultations.

“These are very sick patients, otherwise they would not be in CHSLDs, underlines the D^re Miren Ferland, who has been working in the field in Montreal for 20 years. If you want to make a good jobit requires good involvement.”

When they don’t have a family doctor, patients are seen by nurses on site.

“They take double bites, admits Mr. Vachon. We put out fires all the time.”

However, in serious cases, these orphan patients risk at any time ending up in an ambulance heading for the hospital.

• Listen to the poignant testimony of Marie Vien, sister of a CHSLD resident who confided in the microphone of available via :

“Unfortunately, it can lead to unnecessary transfers to hospitals, admits the D^r Sylvain Dion, vice-president of the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ). They compensate and it is not to their advantage.

“It is unlivable in the medium term, the crisis must be resolved,” adds Mr. Vachon.

Most family physicians who work in CHSLDs do so part-time. However, they are often at the end of their career. A few retirements or sick leave are enough to destabilize the supply of care.

Very old doctors

To resolve the crisis, AMOM believes it needs eight or nine full-time doctors, or around thirty part-time. Many calls for help have been made in recent months, but the results have not been forthcoming.

“We look at everything, we make calls to everyone, but we get responses in dribs and drabs,” notes Mr. Vachon, who deplores that this practice is less attractive and not paying enough.

“We are in chronic shortage because it is a difficult sector, admits D^re Ferland. It’s not easy to interest young people.

MARTIN ALARIE / MONTREAL JOURNAL

The FMOQ even maintains that it has created a crisis unit with the government and asked that private family doctors be allowed to come and lend a hand on an exceptional basis. Two had raised their hands.

“The answer we got was that we can’t do that, laments the D^r Dio. But, you have to take whatever happens.”

According to the FMOQ, the current crisis should be resolved next November, with the arrival of a cohort of new doctors in Montreal.

There are 15,000 CHSLD beds in Montreal, according to AMOM.

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