More than one in four Quebecers don’t have a family doctor: report

The number of Quebec patients that have a family doctor has dropped from 82 per cent in 2019 to 73.3 per cent in 2023, according to research from the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ).

The data illustrates that the massive decline is connected to a wave of family doctors that recently retired, leaving patients to be cared for by a group of family doctors.

“There is a lack of access and this lack of access, we’re trying to compensate for it through the guichet, which does pay doctors who have holes in their schedule to take on an extra patient. But it’s not a long-term solution,” said Dr. Clifford Albert, Montreal medical director of the Canadian Institute for Laser Surgery, and a clinical instructor at McGill.

“The average physician age in Quebec is about 60, so doctors are retiring. The proportion of new doctors coming in is less versus the population, which has grown a lot.”

The Quebec Health Ministry noted that the “overall registration rate” of the guichet d’accès à la première ligne, known as the GAP, has risen to 83.1 per cent as of July 15.

“The problem is that we have too many generals at Quebec Santé deciding what to do to try to manage the system better, when the real problem is lack of nurses, lack of physicians. So there’s not enough soldiers on the ground,” said Albert.

Health experts claim that several thousand of vulnerable patients, whose health concerns are deemed high priority, are currently being cared for by multiple family physicians in Montreal. Although some doctors claim so doing can work for certain patients, others point out that patients with multiple health conditions must be followed by the same physician

With the latter, Montrealers agree:

“I kept the same family doctor. For me and my children, my grandkids, they all have the same family doctor. There’s a benefit because they know a lot about you and they could treat you better,” one Montrealer told CityNews.

Another saying, “I stopped looking [for a family doctor] for a while and then about a year ago, two years ago, someone phoned me. I am chronically ill and I couldn’t find a doctor and I need one for this particular disease.”

The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) suggested a team made up of doctors, nurses and other health professionals could start taking on patients.

“The long-term solution is that everybody has access to a family doctor who will follow them and be able to screen out for illnesses before they occur,” said Dr. Albert.