Since the family doctor crisis will worsen rapidly in the near future, solutions have now been found so that people are not left completely without treatment. As one possibility, there is an option on the table that patients left without a family doctor will be treated primarily via remote visits, while only critical care should be received from the nearest health center.
In Estonia everyone should have their own family doctor. According to officials, the system is good, but the continuation of the current system is no longer realistic, because family doctors are starting to retire, while young doctors do not want to join the list.
Now they have started looking for solutions so that people are not left completely without treatment. Among the options on the table is the possibility of temporarily handing the list over to a company that operates further away to manage it.
“The fact that (the list) is handed over to a legal entity operating in another region is what we are very afraid of, because it can lead to a situation where a person cannot get an appointment from the nurse, or a doctor’s appointment, he gets a digital appointment, there is only one assistant,” said Elle-Mall Sadrak, head of the family doctors association.
According to Sadraku, this was used in the case of Ukrainian war refugees, where the state paid private clinics a preparation fee and additional money for each admission. According to the family doctor, big problems can be expected after five or ten years with such a solution.
“Problems will arise there. Private clinics, which have taken everything under their stomachs, will then create a situation in which at a certain point they will have the majority and will begin to dictate the price. The example of Finland shows that the Finnish state does not may no longer pay for basic healthcare,” Shadrach said.
According to the Health Fund, it is necessary to find solutions that will help the family doctor system emerge from the crisis. It is also inevitable that work must be distributed at the primary level.
“If we know that we have six lists in the health center, four out of six family doctors want to retire, two want to continue working, there are remote telephone receptions, someone else could do remote consultations,” said Laura Johanna Tuisk , responsible for the family doctor assistance service of the health fund.
According to Tuisu, international practice shows that about 15% of patients have serious needs.
The Ministry of Social Affairs says that this is a temporary solution, which is certainly not the first choice. The Ministry rather sees the situation in which the doctor is no longer personally responsible for the list as a solution.
“Because employee expectations regarding working life have changed so much, people no longer want to take on the title of family doctor and then work day after day, from morning to night until they die. They want a flexible working life. It can be assumed that if the responsibility lies with an institution and not a specific doctor, then there will be a greater interest in helping people as a family doctor or nurse,” said Kaily Susi, advisor to the Ministry of Social Affairs. .
One in two family doctors in Estonia is already retired or is about to reach retirement age.
2024-01-12 19:08:00
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