Depending on where a patient is located in Canada, wait times for gender-affirming care can be months to years — a precarious position for people who are already struggling with their mental health, experts say.

Meanwhile, advocates worry that heightened political rhetoric surrounding gender-affirming care for youth could further strain availability within a health-care system that is already under-resourced.

Foria Clinic — a privately run, virtual-only service — wants to help reduce those wait times.

It was born out of the Ontario-based Connect Clinic, a similar online service founded in 2019 by Dr. Kate Greenaway that aimed to make gender-affirming care more accessible for patients in rural parts of the province. Changes to the provincial funding formula in 2022 meant the clinic had to close shop, leaving 1,500 patients — and 2,000 more on the waitlist — without a gender-affirming care physician.

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
    4·
    10 months ago

    No. The article clearly states why …

    The changes to Connect Clinic stemmed from the Ontario government’s move to a hybrid model for funding. The shift meant family physicians like Greenaway would have to pair virtual care with in-person visits.

    But Greenaway’s practice was based in Toronto, far from her patients in rural Ontario, which ruled out in-person visits. If she had to switch to the hybrid model, her goal of reaching rural Ontarians would be impossible, she said.

    This is on #DrugFraud doing his best to kill Ontarians.