Doctor makes checklist for patients on what to do when they lose their FP

When patients hear they’re losing their family doctor, what should they do? Dr. Andrew MacLean, a family medicine resident in Fredericton, N.B. has put together a checklist to help patients with the steps they need to take when left without a primary care physician. The steps include getting their medical record and adding their name to New Brunswick’s Patient Connect list, which connects patients with family physicians. The checklist also includes information on where to send complaints about the waiting list for family physicians, reminding patients not to take frustration out on doctors. “If your doctor moves on, please remember that they are people too—they retire, they get sick, they have children, and these things impact how many patients they can safely manage,” the checklist reads. Patients have told Dr. MacLean that they’re grateful for the information. “It gives people what I was hoping for . . . the feeling of some level of control over their own health care and their own health records when they feel like they might have lost some of that,” Dr. MacLean told CBC News. Dr. MacLean made the checklist after the number of patients seeking primary care providers through Patient Connect increased in recent months. “What we've seen since November is a fairly rapid acceleration in the pace of people adding themselves to the list,” Dr. MacLean said. He previously worked as a health researcher for the New Brunswick Medical Society and has been following the Patient Connect list for years. In January, there were 50,000 on the list. Now, there are 67,821 active registrants looking for a primary care provider. Another 6,100 have been placed but have not visited their new primary care provider yet, the New Brunswick department of health told CBC News. The number of patients needing primary care providers is partly due to physicians retiring, relocating or falling ill. In the 2021-2022 fiscal year, 76 New Brunswick physicians retired or relocated. Another 22 physicians have left practice since April, although 15 physicians have started practicing, CBC News said. The province is working to recruit more physicians and to connect more people with primary care while they wait for a permanent provider. “There are folks who are already working on solutions, and I think that's important to recognize,” Dr. MacLean said. Physicians sympathize with patients left without a primary care provider, Dr. MacLean told CBC News. “No one wants to see a patient without care,” he said. “We get how difficult it can be.” “We're trying to find solutions. We're trying to be helpful. We're trying to empathize at a time when patients are frustrated and having difficulty accessing the system, and we share that frustration.” The checklist is available here. Read: Ontario, Maritimes premiers meet to talk health care but offer no details, solutions

Doctor makes checklist for patients on what to do when they lose their FP

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