Number of Ontarians without a family doctor rose significantly during the first two years of the pandemic as access to primary care is deteriorating in Canada’s most populous province
“This shortage is not perfectly equal-opportunity,” said Michael Green, chair of the department of family medicine at Queen’s University, “but it’s certainly widespread enough that it doesn’t spare any particular group.”
High-quality national data are vital, particularly when it comes to grasping the repercussions of a countrywide shortage of family doctors. It’s hard to fix the front door of the health care system if nobody in power knows how many patients are shut out in the first place, experts say. One was a 66-per-cent increase in the number of children and teens who don’t have a family doctor or pediatrician. In 2022, there were 359,769 youth without regular access to primary care, up from 215,901 two years earlier.In Kingston, where Dr. Green also practises family medicine part-time, a local community health centre has set up special outpatient clinics to provide well-baby visits and routine vaccinations for infants and toddlers whose parents can’t find a doctor.
Cliff Ledwos, the associate executive director of Access Alliance, a community health centre that serves marginalized patients at three locations in Toronto, has seen first-hand how newcomers are struggling more now than in the past to find doctors. In fact, the Inspire researchers say the number of Ontarians without a regular doctor is poised to grow. In a recent paper published as a, which means it has not yet been peer reviewed, they found that as of 2019, about 1.7 million Ontarians had a doctor who was over the age of 65.
“If I retired now, or if I dropped dead, there would be a catastrophe,” said Sudi Devanesen, a 79-year-old Mississauga doctor who said nearly 40 per cent of his patients are seniors. “I’m not trying to be egotistical. Nobody is indispensable. But right now, I have so many of these seniors who depend on me.”
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