Northern Ontario patients going to online dermatology clinic to avoid long wait times | CBC News

Gisele Guenard of Sudbury developed a skin condition two years ago as a complication of COVID-19 and found out it would take five months to see one of the local dermatologists.

Her family doctor retired and she ended up going to “multiple walk-in clinics” and even ended up in the hospital emergency room “with complications.”

“You have extreme discomfort and even pain. It becomes your number one focus 24/7,” said Guenard, who has long worked in the health system, including as a nurse. 

“You’re just looking for relief.”

She found it somewhere she never expected to go for medical care: an online clinic called DermCafé.

Dr. Annie Liu is one of the founders of the Toronto-based online clinic, where a small team of family doctors “triage your concern” and refer patients to one of the 16 dermatologists.

She says some conditions require in-person assessment, but many of the most common skin conditions can be diagnosed virtually and treatment prescribed after about a week of waiting. 

Dr. Liu says they get patients from all across Canada and knows of people who travel to the U.S. “or simply give up” when the wait times to see a specialist in some provinces is as long as two years. 

“That’s the equivalent of not seeing a dermatologist,” she said.

After studying at the University of Toronto, she went for additional training in the U.S. and Europe where she saw how online clinics were used and thought it was a “no brainer” to ease the dermatologist shortage in Canada.

“We’re not going to solve this problem magically by finding new dermatologists,” said Guenard.

“We have to work with the existing dermatologists and support them in being able to see patients online.”

Outside of dermatology, Liu thinks online clinics could also help patients access a psychologist or family doctor faster, especially outside of major urban centres. 

But Liu says the Ontario government and medical associations have mostly “put up barriers to care” and the main way the Ministry of Health can help is by “reversing a lot of what they’ve already done.”

“This is such a new concept in Canada that despite how needed it is, people do not sometimes embrace it immediately,” she said. 

“It’s all a little bit backwards.”

Specifically, Liu says the province cut how much doctors are reimbursed for virtual care making online clinics “not really financially sustainable,” as well as adding on more “administrative red tape.”

In response to Liu’s concerns the Ministry of Health told CBC News in an email that it has a plan to reduce medical paperwork and how doctors are compensated is determined through talks with the Ontario Medical Association. 

“As part of our Your Health plan, our government is reducing the administrative burden and helping physicians spend more time with their patients,” the email said.

“We have launched Patients Before Paper Work to further tackle the administrative burden on physicians while reducing the risk of delays of delays in diagnosis and treatment.”