The Manitoba government’s family doctor for all plan is on track, with nearly 29,000 additional Manitobans now linked to a family physician or nurse practitioner since 2013. This announcement was made by Health Minister Sharon Blady.
“We have a record number of doctors in Manitoba, which is allowing more and more Manitobans to have their own family doctor,” said Minister Blady. “We committed that every Manitoban who wanted a family doctor would have access to one this year and I’m pleased to report we are making good progress on fulfilling that promise.”
In 2013, Manitoba Health, Healthy Living and Seniors launched the Family Doctor Finder as a pilot program. The Family Doctor Finder now provides Manitobans with an easy way to be connected with a family doctor or nurse practitioner, the minister said.
“With both online and phone registration options available, this innovative new program takes a much more active approach to finding people a family doctor than was previously available, working with Manitobans to find a primary care provider in a location that works for them,” Minister Blady said.
The minister noted the Family Doctor Finder is just one piece of a broader strategy to build a more robust, accessible and co-ordinated primary care system for Manitoba families that also includes introducing new and innovative models of care that help to better meet the needs of patients including My Health Teams, QuickCare clinics and mobile clinics.
This year, the Family Doctor Finder program has consistently matched between 80 to 85 per cent of registrants without a provider within 30 days of registration, with many people being matched much sooner, Minister Blady said. Since July of 2014, more than two-thirds of people who registered with the program were matched with a doctor within five days. To date, nearly 29,000 Manitobans without a provider, representing 96 per cent of all registrants without a provider, have found a family doctor or nurse practitioner through the program. The program has also connected more than 4,800 people who already had a family doctor with a new primary care provider, the minister noted.
Minister Blady said to help make sure this program functions as well as possible, representatives from the Family Doctor Finder program will be contacting a number of Manitobans who used the program to receive feedback and suggestions for how the program can be improved. Manitobans can now track the progress being made on connecting those registered with the program online.
