Doctor shortage in Portneuf leaves 1 ER doctor to cover entire region for 48 hours
A citizens committee in the Portneuf region, west of Quebec City, is denouncing the lack of doctors in the region, saying the situation is now “dangerous.”
The regional health board confirms during the first weekend of October, only one doctor staffed two emergency rooms for a 48-hour period.
The two emergency rooms serve 18 municipalities and a population of about 52,000 people.
Patrick Duchesne is the assistant director of professional services at the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale. (Submitted by: CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale)
Patrick Duchesne, the assistant director of professional services for the regional health board, the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, says other areas are also experiencing similar shortages.
“I understand people’s concern,” he said. “We are seeing the same problem to different degrees across our territory.”
Jacquelin Genois, who is on the executive committee of the Portneuf health committee, said understaffed emergency rooms are a “dangerous [way] to act.”
He said if the doctor had had to accompany a patient who needed to be transferred to Quebec City, that would have left the emergency rooms at both the St-Raymond regional hospital and the St-Marc-des-Carrières clinic without a doctor.
As it was, he said, patients were made to wait a long time before seeing the emergency doctor.
Doctors abandoning public system?
Genois and Saint-Raymond Mayor Daniel Dion both say the problem with staffing at the emergency room has been compounded in the last year because a number of doctors have left the public health care system to practise outside the public health insurance system (RAMQ).
The CIUSSS confirms seven doctors have left the region since September 1, 2015 but cannot say how many went into private practice, not covered by RAMQ. Two others are on maternity leave, and two more have reduced the number of hours they work.
Duchesne said some of the doctors have had to readjust their workload to abide by new rules imposed by the Quebec Health Ministry which require doctors to take on 500 patients in a family medicine practice.
“If we have a doctor that reduces his workload in the emergency to make sure he’s taking on enough patients according to the new laws, that can bring on problems as far as staffing goes in the emergency rooms,” said Duchesne.
Dion goes further, saying the changes to the health care system are pushing doctors towards the private sector.
No local chemotherapy
Dion said before the reorganization of health care services and the creation of the CIUSSS in April 2015, his region was poised to receive more health care services, including the possibility of chemotherapy treatment.
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Once the merger of regional health care services happened, he said, all those plans fell off the table.
He called the situation “unacceptable.”
“Some people abandon their treatments because they don’t want to go to Quebec City, especially the elderly,” Dion said.
“Some can’t drive, so they have to ask for lifts, and after a few treatments they give up because it’s too complicated, too long and too tiring.”
New job openings to be posted
The citizens health committee has presented the National Assembly with a petition asking for more services in the region. A paper version gathered about 19,000 signatures, with another 967 signatures collected online.
The committee has been promised a meeting with the general manager of the CIUSSS at the end of this month, which Duchesne confirms has been scheduled.
He said a new doctor will begin working full time in the Portneuf region in January, and more new job openings for doctors will be posted later this week.
He also said emergency services will be adequately staffed in the coming weeks.