About one in four Ontarians will be without a family doctor by 2026 as the province faces a shortage of physicians, according to a new report.
The Ontario College of Family Physicians released a new study on Wednesday shedding light on the dwindling number of doctors available for residents in the province.
The college’s latest forecast says that 4.4 million people will be without a doctor in the province in the next four years. Last year, the college predicted that three million Ontarians would be without a primary caregiver in three years, suggesting that the province is currently facing a worsening crisis.
“It is clear that millions more Ontarians will go without a family doctor unless immediate changes are made to provide supports for family doctors,” Dr. Mekalai Kumanan, Ontario College of Family Physicians president, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The college says several factors are contributing to the shortage, including the number of family doctors expected to retire, the number of doctors entering family medicine, and expected population growth in Ontario.
Nearly 2.3 million Ontarians were without a family doctor as of Sept. 2022, up from 1.8 million in March 2020, according to the college.
Furthermore, 1.74 million Ontarians have a family doctor over 65 years old and nearly 65 per cent of doctors are planning to change or leave their practice, according to INSPIRE-Primary Health Care (PHC).
The college notes that family medicine is under a lot of pressure and strain right now and when patients don’t have access to a family doctor cancers may go undetected and people miss important check-ups, among other concerning issues.
“…family doctors are spending too much time on unnecessary administrative tasks and do not have the support they need from interprofessional teams to manage an aging, increasingly complex population,” the college says.
To address this issue, the college is calling on the Ontario government to implement immediate solutions, including ensuring residents have access to family doctors working in teams with other health care providers and ensuring that family doctors are able to spend time caring for patients, instead of tackling unnecessary paperwork.
“It’s not too late for the Ontario Government to change course and take immediate steps to provide support to family doctors to ensure patients can get the best care possible,” Dr. Kumanan said.
