"Hoping for Improvement with System Efficiency"

I formerly lived in Saskatchewan, where our general practitioner gave us prescriptions that would provide us with our medications for one year so we could get from our annual exam to the next one without having to have an intermediate appointment just for prescription renewals. Here in Alberta it seems to be common to give prescriptions that will last for a maximum of six months. This requires patients to make another appointment for the sole reason to allow them to continue receiving our necessary medications in a system that has our physicians overworked and where many people are without a doctor. I feel it would be more efficient for the doctor to use this appointment time to deal with someone’s urgent issue. My eye doctor has given me a prescription for eye drops that is unlimited and does not expire, so obviously it is possible to provide longer prescription terms for chronic conditions that do not require frequent monitoring.