Re: Not all patients treated equally (Letters, Dec. 14)
Recently in a letter to the editor I identified problems with the current system used by the local clinic to match people up with a doctor when one becomes available.
Now, I’d like to offer a perfect solution: the waiting list should be based on a first come, first served basis.
First come first served is elegant in its simplicity. People who have been waiting the longest would be matched up with an available doctor.
The clinic would simply see who’s at the top and select them next. If the person at the top of the list did not respond to the clinic within a set amount of time then they could move on to the next person on the list. No more need to purge the list and no more accusations of discriminatory practices.
Exceptions could be made for people with serious health concerns but everyone else would have to wait patiently until their name came up.
This would allow the doctors and staff at the clinic to focus their attention on measures needed to attract doctors to this region.
Currently, the waiting list is managed by purging the list periodically and using a discriminatory system of screening and selectively choosing whomever the doctors deem worthy of their services.
By adopting a first come, first served system they would eliminate the semblance of a system that rewards people based on who you know and would allow them to align more closely with the intent of the Canada Health Act which clearly states that delivery of health care should be delivered in a non-discriminatory manner.
Another benefit would be that people like my girlfriend and I would not end up waiting more than eight years to be matched up with a doctor. Simple, effective and easy to manage without a semblance of shady discriminatory selection practices.
It’s a no brainer.
Paul Rudge, Sooke