The First Line Access Window (GAP) will be improved, Health Minister Christian Dubé announced on Monday. “GAP 2.0” will make it possible to respond “more effectively” to people who do not have access to a primary care doctor, allowing them to receive a doctor’s appointment, consultation or even a referral to a professional simply by calling 811, option 3.
• Also read: Health in Quebec: Towards a “2.0” first-line access window
With CAP 2.0, the Health Minister’s task is to respond more effectively to the health needs of the population and to the challenges of deadlines. “The right service, the right professional, at the right time, in the right place and at any time,” notes Michel Delamarre, coordinator of access to frontline services.
Thanks to Mr Delamarre’s mandate and his tour of the CAPs in the regions, he was able to identify the negative and positive points of the Guichet in order to make improvements. With the coordinator, the Minister of Health relied on three indicators. “Late surgery, emergencies and the Specialist Appointment Center,” he announces.
The recommended improvements to the GAP are to extend opening hours, introduce callbacks, give patients the opportunity to discuss various health problems, involve more professionals and accelerate the development of the digital tool.
An improvement in emergencies since the GAP
Before implementing the CAP a year ago, Minister Christian Dubé identified two problems in the health network. “We had a problem with patients who had a primary care doctor, but the doctors were so overwhelmed they couldn’t see them. The other problem was for those who did not have a family doctor,” said the Minister of Health in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
In May 2022, Cabinet approved an agreement with doctors requiring them to ensure they properly “filter” patient requests. “We call it relevance. Do I really need these people who don’t have a family doctor or can we send them to triage?” explains Mr. Dubé.
Since its arrival a year ago, more than 1.5 million calls have been made on the Access Desk phone line, or between 5,000 and 7,000 calls per day.
With the Front Line Access Desk, Minister Christian Dubé sees improvements in the emergency room. “We no longer have to wait on a stretcher for 21 hours in the emergency room, we are back at 5 p.m. The guy is 2 p.m. The better we can prevent people from going to the emergency room, the better we can properly treat those who really need to be there,” he explains. To improve access to healthcare by reducing the burden on the emergency room, the solution was to improve the CAP.
The average hospital occupancy rate across Quebec is 122%. For the Minister of Health, “we have to solve the problem at the root. What needs to be done in advance to make this change?” he concludes.