2023-09-22 10:43:58
The number of positions available in family medicine increases this year to 449, or 37 more than last year. A welcome increase, which however risks not compensating for the numerous retirements in the profession.
As every fall, the ministry reveals this Friday how many positions will be open to new doctors in each region of Quebec: 93 in Montreal, 30 in Quebec, 14 in Bas-Saint-Laurent and so on. In the jargon, we call this regional medical workforce plans (PREM).
This announcement comes as the number of family doctors in the public network is decreasing. As reported The duty this week, Quebec lost more general practitioners than it gained in 2022-2023 with a negative balance of 49 positions, a first in 30 years.
Previously, the increase in the number of positions in PREMs made it possible to compensate for departures, but not this year, says the spokesperson for the Fédération des omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), Jean-Pierre Dion. What will it be in 2023-2024? “We’ll find out next year,” he said.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, for his part hopes that the “reductions” he has made to the PREM system will make it easier to fill positions and convince more young doctors to stay in the public network. Because, year in and year out, the positions posted in PREMs do not all find takers and sometimes remain vacant, especially in remote regions, while more than 10% of Quebecers are still without a family doctor.
More choice and fewer surprises
In Quebec, family medicine positions are distributed through PREMs, a system that was set up in the early 2000s to ensure that the regions all have a sufficient number of doctors.
For the first time this year, graduates will be able to apply in two regions and two sub-regions. New doctors are also likely to have fewer unpleasant surprises with what are called special medical activities (SMP) associated with their position. The AMP system requires each doctor to devote 12 hours per week to a specific task in the emergency room, in a CHSLD or elsewhere, depending on local needs.
AMPs are a source of irritation for many young doctors, who inherit tasks that do not interest them or in which they feel less competent. From now on, applicant physicians will be able to indicate their PMI preferences when submitting their application. They can therefore be taken into account during the interview, in particular.
Another relief: local health authorities will enjoy total autonomy to choose how doctor positions will be distributed locally.
Easily awaited relaxations
In interview with The duty Tuesday, the president of the FMOQ, Dr Marc-André Amyot recognized that the relaxations put in place by the government were “advances”.
“But we are still stuck with a PREM quota. PREMs are restrictive,” he added. He cites as an example the case of a new doctor who is unable to obtain a position in Montreal. “What does the person do, if chum works at the head office of a company [à Montréal] and she can’t move? She goes into the private sector. We leave him no other choice. »
The Dr Nicolas Hélie-Martel, head of Medical Clinic 201, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, is impatiently awaiting the distribution of PREMs in his local service network, that of the Laurentians. “We hope a lot from PREM,” he said. About ten family doctors at the clinic have retired over the past two years. Another doctor, who had dual Canadian and American nationality, left to work in the United States. “A year ago, we almost closed the clinic because of all the departures,” he says. We didn’t have PREM. It was hard to see how we were going to survive. »
The Dr Hélie-Martel believes that patient care should be prioritized in her region. Various AMPs can be attached to a PREM: emergency, hospitalization, CHSLD, etc. “The most pressing needs in our local service network are the office,” he says.
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