Ontario Medical Association warns of family doctor shortage

A family doctor shortage continues but a new doctor recently opened up a practice in Orillia.

The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is once again warning of a family doctor shortage in Ontario.

President of the OMA Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman said more than 2.5 million people in Ontario do not have a family doctor with that number expected to increase.

“We’re expecting that to go up to 4.4 million and this just reflects that the number of family doctors planning to retire continues to grow,” said Dr. Abdurrahman. “There aren’t enough new family physicians entering family medicine and so this shortage, unfortunately, will only continue and increase.”

A shortage of family doctors could mean increased wait times at the ER and more serious illnesses.

“The emergency departments become the default entry point to the health care system. So that means that chronic diseases go untreated and preventable complications grow more common,” said Dr. Abdurrahman. “So we will see strains on our health care system, on the emergency rooms, on any kind of urgent care situations.”

Municipalities and hospitals are doing what they can for recruitment and urging doctors to reside in the area after completing their education. Orillia and Lake Country Physician Recruitment (OLCPR) program is an example of that.

Dr. Stephen Morris opened up his practice in Orillia in October and said the OLCPR made the transition seamless.

“It’s allowed me to feel comfortable in terms of taking my time to roster patients, as well as using that time to provide them with a higher level of care than maybe rushing to roster really quickly,” said Dr. Morris.

Even though Dr. Morris is a few months into his practice, he said the gap in people not having a family doctor is noticeable.

“I’m seeing right now, as a new doctor, when I’m taking on patients, they haven’t had a doctor for 10 years, 12 years, 15 years,” said Dr. Morris. “You can see what’s building up over that time, you can see chronic disease developing, you can see cancers that are missed, screening that hasn’t been done in decades.”

Team-based care is one solution that OMA says can alleviate some of the extensive problems they’ve identified with family health care.

“So really building these core teams around family doctors will help them care for more patients. Also, we want to ensure that we’re giving all the resources that they need to provide that best care to help prevent complications,” said Dr. Abdurrahman. “Also, to provide care for chronic issues and give them more support structurally.”

The OMA said they are working collaboratively with the government to increase the team-based approach with the goal of better treatment for families, and less doctor and staff burnout.