How Canada's family doctor shortage compares to other countries

Canada ranked last in a just-published list of 10 high-income countries when it comes to access to a family doctor for routine medical care.

The proportion of Canadians aged 18 and older who reported access to a primary care provider fell from 93 per cent in 2016 to 86 per cent in 2023, according to a new survey by the Commonwealth Fund (CMWF), a private U.S.-based research group, released Thursday.

While 86 per cent is still high, the report suggests an estimated four million Canadian adults did not have a primary care provider in 2023.

The survey ranked the following countries based on the percentages of people who reported having a regular doctor or a place they usually visit for medical care in 2023:

1. Netherlands (99 per cent)
2. New Zealand (97 per cent)
3. the United Kingdom (97 per cent)
4. Germany (96 per cent)
5. Australia (94 per cent)
6. Switzerland (92 per cent)
7. France (91 per cent)
8. Sweden (88 per cent)
9. the United States (87 per cent)
10. Canada (86 per cent)

The CMWF average of the 10 countries is 93 per cent.

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"Canada’s 2023 result is significantly lower than the CMWF average," according to the Commonwealth Fund. The survey was published by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. CIHI is an independent, not-for-profit group providing information on health in Canada.

"Lack of access to a primary care provider has been shown to negatively impact the health of individuals and of the population as a whole," according to the report. "Better access to primary health care can lead to better health outcomes, and to fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations."

The research suggested that lower-income and younger Canadian adults (ages 18 to 34), and men in particular, were the least likely to have a doctor.

Of those, two-in-five respondents without a doctor said they had at least one chronic condition, and about a third took one or more prescription medications.

In 2023, only 26 per cent of Canadians polled said they were able to get a same- or next-day appointments. This is down from 46 per cent in 2016, and "significantly lower" than the CMWF average of 42 per cent. Only 23 per cent of respondents said they found it easy to get care in the evenings, on weekends and on holidays without going to the emergency department. The CMWF average is 32 per cent.

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Methodology

The Commonwealth Fund interviewed 1,000 Canadian adults. Its results were supplemented by additional interviews by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, for a combined total of 4,820 interviews completed across Canada. Interviews were conducted between March 14 and Aug. 20, 2023, over the phone, using random digit dialing overlapping sampling frame telephone design.

The results were then weighted based on demographics by province. More information on methodology is available online.