More than 90 per cent of patients in the City of Kawartha Lakes are concerned about possible cuts to health care funding, according to a new survey.
The City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team patient survey about local health care services received responses from 241 participants — a 25 per cent response rate.
More than 68 per cent of respondents said they were “very concerned” about possible cuts to health care funding while another 25 per cent were “somewhat” concerned and six per cent said they were not at all concerned.
The survey also discovered that 87 per cent of patients responded that family health teams have been a positive change to the health care system and that they found their health care providers to be caring, friendly and good listeners. A family health team includes a team of family physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, dietitians and other professionals who work together to provide primary health care.
“We are very pleased with this positive feedback about the team from our patients,” said Dr. Eric Ready, chairperson of the health team’s board of directors. “We are always working to provide the highest quality care. Reducing wait times is an ongoing effort and priority for the board of directors.”
When asked what the perfect health care system would like, the top priorities were shorter wait times (15 per cent) and more doctors (14 per cent). Seven per cent of respondents said the system was “perfect as is.”
Additionally, office hours, appointment wait times and access to transportation were identified as the main challenges of obtaining care.
The family health team says it recently implemented a system of automated reminders for patients to help increase timely access by reducing the number of patients who fail to show up for an appointment.
“We continue to take steps to reduce time patients have to wait both for an appointment and once in the waiting room,” said health team executive director Mike Perry. “We do have some same or next-day appointments, certainly for urgent cases.”
More than half of patients (60 per cent) who replied to the survey noted that they felt at least one of their visits to the family health team prevented a visit to the emergency room.
The City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team provides primary care to more than 36,000 patients at 13 locations across the municipality.
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