Information about health clinic for information or hotline toronto
Today's Paper Traffic The Star Manage My Subscription Subscribe Contact Us Hamilton Spectator Image Find a Local Business Search Goldbook.ca Search thespec.com Search the Web Advanced Search Full Text Article Archive HOME NEWS SPORTS Go A&E OPINION MEDIA OBITS AUTO JOBS CLASSIFIEDS RENTALS Local Canada/World Business Special Reports Facebook Twitter Jamilton Recipes Ticat blog Eye on the Area City Hall blog TheSpec.com - Local - Hotline will find you family doctorHotline will find you family doctor Email Story PrintPrintText Size Text Size Text SizeChoose text size Report Typo Email the author More Stories • Tiger talks, but still won't say much • One container max starts today • The man who brought pedophile’s pardon ... • Six dead, 21 missing after blast at ... • Ontario ponders Tasers that have evidence-grabbing ... • 4 shot, 33 arrested in Times Square ... • GM to install brake safety measure in ... • Propane fire probe ‘in preliminary stages’ • Unbridled joy: Schools reopen in Haiti’s ... • Hospital took Kaylee off respirator ... Physician asks: Where will they come from? January 26, 2009 Tanya Talaga; With files from Spectator staff Toronto Star TORONTO (Jan 26, 2009) Help is on the way for 500,000 Ontario residents without a family physician.
Starting next month, a new hotline will help patients find a doctor in their area willing to take new patients. The government says all it will take is a call to a special 1-800 number, where a Telehealth Ontario staffer will take down your health history and pass it on to a nurse who will find you a family doctor
"This is a made-in-Ontario solution," Health Minister David Caplan said. "We will be the first jurisdiction I am aware of that is doing this." For years, people without family doctors have sought medical help in emergency wards, at walk-in clinics or have chosen to go without steady medical care. It's estimated 400,000 to one million Ontarians do not have a family doctor.
In Hamilton, between 27,000 and 60,000 people have no family physician. Niagara in general has had a shortage of physicians. The program, called Health Care Connect, is to be launched in February. It is part of a provincial government and Ontario Medical Association commitment to find family doctors for 500,000 people.
The new 1-800 number, to be released next month, will be an addition to Telehealth Ontario. Telehealth Ontario is a confidential and free government phone number that offers 24-hour health advice from registered nurses.
"This won't be a perfect matching system where it will be immediate," said Caplan, the health minister. Ministry officials did not give a guarantee on how fast they can match patients with doctors. A doctor shortage exists partly because in past years there were not enough students taken into medical schools to make up for those who were retiring. Also, Ontario's population has grown, among other factors.
"It may take a little time but at least it will give us the ability to meet those needs,"Caplan said . The Health Ministry and the Ontario Medical Association, the body representing nearly 33,000 physicians, have made the commitment to find family doctors for Ontarians.
Physicians will get a bonus to take on new patients. For instance, if a doctor takes on a complex patient, such as someone with a chronic illness and a multitude of health problems, he or she will get a $350 one-time payment. For an uncomplicated patient under age 65, the doctor will be paid $100. Since 2004, Ontario's doctors have taken on an additional 630,000 patients who previously did not have a family physician, said Dr. Ken Arnold, OMA president.
"Despite this tremendous effort by doctors we know that more work still needs to be done," he said. However, no one really knows how many Ontario residents are without a family physician, Caplan said Caplan.
The new program should indicate where the greatest need is, he said. "And not just how many patients, but where they are."
Once the government knows where doctor shortages are most acute, they can use that information to set up more nurse practitioner-led clinics or family health teams. Those teams are composed of nurses, doctors and other health professionals working together to care for patients. Nurse practitioners are specially trained nurses who can perform more medical duties such as ordering diagnostic tests and writing certain prescriptions.
Only Sudbury now has a nurse practitioner-led clinic. Three others are on the way throughout Ontario. "This will allow us to get more use and value from the investments we are making," Caplan said.
Natalie Mehra, director of the health-care advocacy group the Ontario Health Coalition, said the doctor shortage is a "big problem" all over the province, particularly in Kingston, Windsor, Sarnia, Brockville, and northern Ontario. Scarborough physician Dr. Douglas Mark also wants to know where the doctors will come from to care for 500,000 people. He sees anywhere from 12 to 40 patients a day.
"Where are the doctors? They are going to have an awful time trying to find these doctors." Mark added the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario also has an online system where you can find local family doctors.
In addition, the Hamilton Academy of Medicine provides an online doctor search. Featured Sections At Homes The Way We Spend Witness - A True Crime Story Jamilton Special Report AuctionAdvantage2010 Top Jobs Get With the Program Two Weeks Free! Spec Cars & Trucks 2010 Eye on Area SpecCall
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