Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: to good medicine. Doctors in the province rolled out a 10-year plan for the better provision of family medicine last week. It points to the need for family physicians to be able to devote more time to patients with complex needs and less to those whose needs are more straightforward. It’s a good prescription for a more efficient system; if you need to be sent for an X-ray or require a cortisone shot or a prescription for a run-of-the-mill cough and cold, surely a nurse practitioner or other non-physician medical professional could handle those routine treatments. Glad the provincial government says it’s onside with the plan.
Cheers: to seeing beyond the numbers. Health Minister John Haggie was on the hot seat in the House of Assembly Thursday when the subject of health care and the adequacy of medical staffing arose. Haggie was quick to note that the province has more physicians now than it ever has, and boasts the second highest number of physicians per capita in the country. That’s all well and good, but there are also at least 50,000 people in the province without a family doctor — nearly 10 per cent of the population — so perhaps the province does need to review its future health-care needs, as the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association has suggested. To his credit, Haggie acknowledged the system needs improvement.
Jeers: to being behind the times. Federal access to information legislation still relies largely on a mail-in application process, whereas all government departments in this province offer online service. Roughly 35 federal departments and agencies take information requests online — an efficient process that takes the applicant right to their bank account to pay the processing fee after submitting the online form. But that’s out of more than 200 federal departments and agencies that require you to mail in an application, accompanied by a cheque or money order. And if you don’t have a cheque handy, you could end up paying more for the money order than the processing fee. A Telegram reporter filing a recent information request to a federal department used a free money order covered by her banking fees. Otherwise, it would have cost $7.50 for a money order covering the $5 fee.
Cheers: to good Samaritans. Hats off to a motorist named Andrea who gave a ride to a Telegram editor and spouse the other day when they flagged her down. Their home security alarm had been tripped while they were out for a walk and they had to get home in a hurry. Turned out to be a false alarm, but folks like Andrea are proof there are good people in the world. Not everyone would even roll down the car window if they saw someone running toward them in traffic.