TORONTO - The burden of COVID-19 going forward will sit on the shoulders of primary care doctors and nurses if no new variant emerges, but the way tha...
TORONTO - The burden of COVID-19 going forward will sit on the shoulders of primary care doctors and nurses if no new variant emerges, but the way that medical care is delivered must be reconsidered, Ontario’s now-defunct science table said Monday in its final bit of advice to the province.
Other findings included unequal distribution of primary care access throughout the province, a dearth of data on that same care and major overall communication problems. The briefs are the last bit of research the group performed in its role as pandemic-era government advisors.It says a team-based approach to primary care would better serve patients -- and help address the alarming number of Ontario residents without a family doctor.
The table found treating patients with long COVID is taking up increasing time and resources of family doctors. Access to care is not equitable, the science table found, with those in rural communities and the inner suburbs, new Canadians and the marginalized left with low levels of primary care. The primary care teams there engaged community ambassadors and organized vaccine clinics during evenings and weekends to accommodate essential workers. That led to significant vaccine uptake from 5.5 per cent of the population in the area in April 2021 to 56.3 per cent a month later.