More Ontarians living without a family doctor

Windsor doctor status CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco updates us on the family doctor situation in Windsor-Essex and whether there’s a shortage.

There are now 2.5 million people in Ontario without a family doctor, an increase of more than 160,000 people in the last six months.

“I'm really fortunate to have the same doctor and he's a good one,” said a viewer of CTV News while on an excursion along the river.

Not everyone is as lucky. According to Windsor Regional Hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Wassim Saad, between 30,000 to 40,000 people in the Windsor-Essex area are without a primary care physician.

“It's not uncommon for our E.R. doctors to hear this from patients when asked, who's your primary care provider? Who can you follow up with in a few days or in a few weeks? And their answer is they don't have anybody,” Saad said.

Ontario College of Family Physicians acknowledges the province has invested in primary care teams to help reduce the workload. But, the group suggests moving faster on a promise to reduce regulatory work as doctors spend up to 19 hours a week on paperwork instead of seeing patients.

“There's not a lot of young doctors that are going through that seven years, whatever it takes to get to be a doctor,” said David Marshall, a retired nurse. “So, it's just a lot of changes in the last 20 years.”

A local doctor’s office is accepting patients but they are being put on a waiting list for six to 12 months. Another office is experiencing high volume of calls since opening up to new patients.

A separate study shows another 670,000 Ontarians have a family doctor but need to travel more than 50 kilometres to see them.

Saad said many who don't have a primary care physician are turning up at the emergency room.

“The summer months traditionally are months where you expect the volumes in the emergency room and in the hospital to be lower, but we're not seeing that,” Saad pointed out.

Instead, the ER is near capacity and sometimes over-capacity.

“And that doesn't necessarily bode well when you're looking at the fall months and the winter months when the viruses start circulating in the community and the volumes will go up even further,” Saad said.

More young doctors are arriving in the area according to Saad, who suggests looking at the Essex Medical Society website to see who is accepting new patients.

“That's really the best you can do until we can get more capacity in the system. We just need more doctors.”

The pediatric emergency diversion service was launched at Windsor Regional Hospital’s Met Campus earlier this year to help ease the pressure on ERs. They are open Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.