At a time when landing new family physicians is a dogfight between municipalities across the province, it makes sense to help existing doctors see more patients.
That’s the case with the Interprofessional Primary Care Team Funding Initiative. The Ford government recently handed out $1.59 million to the Chatham-Kent Ontario Health Team (CKOHT) to help increase the efficiency of local physicians.
It’s not like they were inefficient before the funding; this instead allows for the hiring of support staff who will take away clerical and other duties that can bog down a doctor’s time and limit the number of patients they see in a given day.
The math, according to local health-care experts, is impressive. The $1.59 million is to be utilized to hire 17.5 new health-care personnel, such as nurse practitioners, nurses and medical receptionists.
The funding level for these jobs will, according to the funding formula, let existing doctors in Chatham-Kent see an additional 3,200 patients.
However, local health-care experts say it will be even better. Based on a prior intake of funding, CKOHT officials are confident that number will top 5,000, possibly reaching 6,000.
That’s 5,000-6,000 people currently without access to primary care soon being able to be face to face with a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
Considering more than 21,000 C-K residents are currently without a family doc, the return on investment numbers are stunning, and great news.
Being without a primary care provider puts citizens behind the health eight ball. It’s functional if you are healthy, but for anyone with serious health issues, the system can be hell.
Heck, even getting prescriptions renewed can mean a trip to the emergency department, or an after hours clinic. We all know how busy the emergency department can be. Removing this pressure on local ERs alone would be a boon, let alone the peace of mind for thousands more C-K residents.
Kudos to the province for providing the funding and to the local health teams for stretching those dollars as far as they can go.
While the funding does not deliver new physicians to our area, we must continue the recruitment effort. Our doctors aren’t getting any younger. It’s estimated we’ll need another 20-plus in the near future as some of our existing physicians transition into retirement.
