A question repeatedly asked is what has happened to our health care?
People wait for long periods of time for MRIs, CT scans, specialist appointments and surgeries.
This issue is not only felt in Saskatchewan but across the country, as I hear friends comment that they also need to wait in other provinces.
As a child growing up in rural Ontario, I had the same doctor until I got married.
When we needed to go and see him, it was not a quick visit. He office was packed with patients and everyone chatted with each other as they knew the wait was going to be hours.
Never did we go in and have a 15-minute wait, as our family doctor was also the doctor on call for the hospital during regular clinic hours.
We did not go to the specialist for tonsil removal; our family doctor did that. If someone broke an arm, the family doctor set the bone and put on a cast.
The wait at times was hours in the clinic, but no one seemed to complain.
After I got married, I had my husband's doctor. This same doctor delivered our children, he did most of my surgeries and the waiting room was always full of people.
The hospitals in these small towns growing up were used for everything, from deliveries to surgeries to emergency care. My grandma received care when she had her stroke.
Our family doctors knew us without looking at our charts. They asked how family members were doing because he knew the whole family.
We also only went to the doctor if needed, which was not very often, and our family doctor did it all, except for critical cases. We were then sent to the big cities or the specialist came to the small-town hospital.
It is not like this today, and it is frustrating not having the same doctor for issues. They all seem to have a different diagnosis of the situation.
Wait times are now short. Not once has the waiting room been filled with patients when we have gone. At most there are two other people.
Over the past six weeks, we have been to the doctors and emergency a lot as we have a very sick daughter.
The nurses have been excellent, and it is great to see the same ones when we go in. First of all, they remember who we are and ask how things are going, and second of all, it makes the visit a little more personal for the patient, especially when we are struggling with what is going on.
With each visit to emergency, we have had a different doctor. Our family doctor left in February. We don't have one and they tell us we need a family doctor.
So, tell me why do we need a family doctor? They only stay for a few years and then move on. Just when you start to get comfortable with one, off they go.
With all the doctors that have left the small towns and gone to the big cities, one might think the backlog would slow down.
Each time we see a different doctor we have to go through the whole process again of what is going on, as they do not seem to read the patient's charts beforehand.
And why are the doctors that we have in the smaller hospitals not doing some of the surgeries? Are they not qualified, or are the hospitals not set up for such things?
I believe having our town doctors taking care of some surgeries would reduce some of the backlog.
I think we can do better, and the system could be more efficient.
