May lose my GP

[amberjolie1]

Found out from my mother-in-law, who goes to the same GP as I do, that he may be returning to his home country at the end of the year for good, so I may have to look for another doctor.

Don't know about other countries, but in Canada, that's a VERY difficult thing to do, because there really aren't that many GP's for the number of people.

There's a place nearby our house that is accepting new patients, but it's a set of about 7 docs that rotate around, so you don't really have one particular doc.

So I'm not too keen on that, because then you don't get a good relationship where the doc understands what's going on.  However I still have my rhemy.

What do you think?  Should I hold out to find a single doc?

[anita]

That's a hard call.  A good GP is important.  I don't know much about the Canadian system, but if you need a GP in order to get referrals, tests scheduled, etc then you need to find one that is in for the long haul and wiling to work with you & your rheumy.   Group physicians can have pros and cons.  You should find out more about how their group works and what to expect.  I personally think "interviewing" docs is important...even if it means just via the phone and asking a ton of questions about them. 

Good luck

[Daisy1234]

Amberjolie, what province do you live in?  Some provinces have services that list family doctors that are accepting new patients which can help you find a PCP.  Also if you are on LTD or WC you may find it very important to have consistency so that the reports for the disability insurance are accurately completed by the doctor.

Daisy

[amberjolie1]

I'm in Ontario.  They do have a website that indicates doctors that are accepting new patients, but the only ones I see aren't in my immediate area - I'd have to travel a bit to get to them.  My husband also has an autoimmune issue and is on CPP, so I think probably for him it would be best to have a single doctor.

It's bad timing - we actually saw a doctor back in the summer about possibly switching because we had moved, but we decided to stick with our current doctor.  If we knew then that he'd probably be going, we'd have switched.  I don't see her as accepting new patients anymore, and she'd probably be ticked at us anyway - we came in to see her for an "interview", as far as we were concerned.  But she indicated she wouldn't get paid until we had set her up as our doctor (I think we asked, she wasn't fishing for money or anything), so she missed out on sending in that appointment to OHIP. So she may not be thrilled to have us come in again.

[Daisy1234]

Amberjolie:

In the case of CPP-D unless your husband is planning to go back to work or do some of the other triggers that prompt a CPP-D review, its not usual to get one after you've been approved.  I'm not expecting one myself and I am on CPP-D as well as LTD where they constantly review a person.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about going back to the other doctor, after all, all she can say is No and that's not a big deal.  I would just tell her office and her when you see her but only if it comes up that your doctor is leaving and if you had known earlier you would have gladly switched over to her practise as you found her very good.   If you liked what you saw when you met her, I would go with that as my first option.

Good luck,
Daisy