cover image: and still waiting : And still waiting : exploring primary care wait times in Canada

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and still waiting : And still waiting : exploring primary care wait times in Canada

26 Jun 2008

By neglecting the importance of primary care and the role of the family physician the system fails to acknowledge the full wait time that patients experience. [...] Primary care may also be defined as: “the ‘medical home’ for a patient, ideally providing continuity and integration of health care… The aims of primary care are to provide the patient with a broad spectrum of care, both preventive and curative, over a period of time and to coordinate all of the care the patient receives.”5 Few will argue the vital role of the family physician for patients requiri [...] By neglecting the importance of primary care and the of primary care and the role role of the family physician the system fails to acknowledge the of the family physician the full wait time that patients experience. [...] According to the Department of Health: “Primary care trusts are at the centre of the modernisation of the NHS and are responsible for 80% of the total NHS budget… They work with other health and social care organisations and local authorities to make sure that the community's needs are met.”13 PCTs are large units, and have been consolidated from 303 in 2005 to 152 presently. [...] The next stages of wait time development in primary care will involve the need to collect and manage data and to move to solutions that enable the attainment of wait time benchmarks through more timely access to primary as well as other levels of care.
health education school hospitals medicine primary health care health care medical diagnosis medical specialisation health services accessibility waiting lists diagnosis health system diagnostic clinical medicine medical profession nhs healthcare policy health treatment health sciences government health care family medicine general practitioner family physician primary care (medicine) department of health medical service family physicians canadian medical association specialists family doctor
Pages
36
Published in
Canada

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