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Hamilton Spectator
17-06-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
Need a family doctor? Six tips from physicians for finding one in Ontario
Ontario is facing a family doctor crisis . An ongoing and worsening shortage of family physicians has contributed to ballooning emergency rooms and poorer health outcomes for millions of Ontarians, experts say. It has even led hundreds of people to queue for hours in the cold just for the chance to secure a doctor. Burnout, disrespect, and even violence made it too hard to continue doing the thing I love. Burnout, disrespect, and even violence made it too hard to continue doing the thing I love. 'By the end of this year, 25 per cent of all Ontarians won't have access to a regular family doctor,' Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman, president of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), told the Star. That's up from the roughly 15 per cent of residents — some 2.5 million people — without a doctor last July . The factors behind the shortage are numerous, from a crushing administrative burden that can see doctors spend 19 hours a week on paperwork alone, to stagnant compensation that has fallen well behind inflation, Abdurrahman said. 'When you look at all these factors, it's really difficult to imagine someone opening up a new practice in comprehensive family medicine. It's just not viable as a plan to move forward right now,' she said. The province has pledged to connect every Ontarian to a primary care provider by 2029 — and is investing $2.1 billion to get it done, said Ema Popovic, press secretary to Sylvia Jones, Ontario's Minister of Health. 'Ontario is proud to lead the country with the highest rate of people with a primary care provider,' she told the Star. The province has added over 15,000 new doctors since 2018, and is currently undertaking the largest medical school expansion in its history. Yet there are still too few physicians to go around. 'The mathematics are certainly against people trying to find a family doctor,' said Dr. Cathy Risdon, a family doctor, professor and chair of McMaster University's Department of Family Medicine. 'There is no one easy answer to this and there's no guarantee that any strategy is going to really be satisfying or successful,' she told the Star. But the following methods will raise your odds of success. With a third of Orillia residents lacking a doctor, the mayor launched a plan to recruit MDs and pay them as employees. 'We can put skin in the game.' With a third of Orillia residents lacking a doctor, the mayor launched a plan to recruit MDs and pay them as employees. 'We can put skin in the game.' Risdon recommends first registering with Health Care Connect . This provincial program matches people in search of a physician with doctors looking for new patients, although it is currently 'under tremendous strain because we don't have enough family doctors,' Risdon said. People can register for the service through its website or by calling 1-800-445-1822 or 8-1-1. The average wait time for the program to connect you with a doctor is 90 days, Popovic said. The program has promised to connect everyone who has been on the wait-list since Jan. 1, 2025 with a family doctor or nurse practitioner by Spring 2026. While you're waiting, scan the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO)'s physician register . While this list doesn't denote whether doctors are accepting new patients, its 'advanced search' function can help to find family doctors who speak a certain language or are near a specific location, Risdon said. 'Occasionally, people may have a cultural or linguistic background that requires specialized service,' Risdon said. 'Doctors with that expertise (like speaking a certain language) will often prioritize patients that they know they can uniquely serve.' For those having difficulty navigating CPSO's physician search, provides a more accessible, interactive map of physicians across Ontario, as well as their addresses and contact information. Users can search by medical specialty, language proficiency and gender identity. While the map doesn't show family doctors accepting new patients, physicians often keep wait-lists of people who requested to be patients, said Dr. Lise Bjerre, a family physician and the chair of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, whose team developed the tool. In fear of getting de-rostered, some patients have resorted to visiting ERs for non-emergency care when their family doctors aren't available. In fear of getting de-rostered, some patients have resorted to visiting ERs for non-emergency care when their family doctors aren't available. Ask your hospital whether any of its physicians are accepting new patients. Many walk-in clinics also have physicians looking to build their own practice and are trying to find new patients, Risdon said. 'Keep an eye out for signs saying 'accepting new patients,'' she continued. 'There's a surprising number of them in some communities.' Clinics and hospitals may also refer you to outside physicians they know are looking for new patients, she said. If your community has an affiliation with a medical school, you might be able to attach yourself to a doctor-in-training, Risdon said. 'All of our schools have teaching clinics that train future family doctors,' she said. 'In some of those clinics, patients can attach themselves to a new resident in their first year, who will look after them with supervision while they're training.' When these doctors graduate and establish their own practices, they often take their training patients with them. Finally, check if you're within the area or demographic of your local community health centre (CHC). These not-for-profit organizations provide comprehensive primary health care and other services, largely targeted toward populations who have traditionally faced barriers to health care. There are 75 CHCs scattered across Ontario. A list of where each centre is located is available on the province's website . A map showing family physician-to-patient ratios for Ontario's Census Subdivisions, using data from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and Statistics Canada. also provides an interactive map of each census subdivision in Ontario, as well as the number of physicians present per 1,000 people. It's based on the 2021 Canadian Census — the most recent data we have available, Bjerre said. According to the national 2025 Caring for Canadians report , the demand for family doctors is greatest in remote or rural areas: 'More than half the workforce that would be needed in rural areas is missing,' Bjerre noted. This trend is echoed in Ontario, with large swathes of rural northern Ontario averaging one or fewer physicians per 1,000 people. Urban sectors, including the Greater Toronto Area, tended to average between one to two doctors for every thousand residents. The only area with more than 10 doctors for every 1,000 residents is the rural community of Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario. Ontario has an average 2.8 physicians per 1,000 people, according to 2024 numbers from the OMA — the same as the Canadian average in 2022, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In comparison, OECD member states averaged 3.7 physicians per 1,000 in 2021, with countries such as Norway, Austria and Portugal surpassing five doctors per thousand. If you don't have a family doctor and are experiencing mild, common symptoms, consider stopping by a pharmacist, Bjerre and Risdon recommend. Ontario pharmacists have the power to prescribe medications for certain common ailments, and can also renew medications. The next step is to seek out a walk-in clinic, urgent care (for serious but non-life threatening matters) or the emergency room (for urgent issues like difficulty breathing or loss of consciousness). Patients can now see an array of doctors without leaving their recliner thanks to telemedicine. But that doesn't mean trips to the office should end. Patients can now see an array of doctors without leaving their recliner thanks to telemedicine. But that doesn't mean trips to the office should end. Unfortunately, all three can be associated with 'very long waits,' Risdon said. 'People are often asked to share only one problem and anything that has a bit more complexity … is really, really hard to achieve in many of those settings.' The last option is to rely on telehealth and virtual care — services that can be expensive and are not always publicly funded, Risdon continued. Bjerre recommended four trusted online resources that provide health information. These include: icanbewell , an app offering preventive health advice that Bjerre said was vetted by the College of Family Physicians of Canada; Unlock Food , a Dietitians of Canada-backed resource for healthy eating; Sex & U , an initiative answering questions about sex and sexuality from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada; and Caring for Kids , a parent-centric health resource from the Canadian Paediatric Society. 'The province is investing significant resources in expanding access to care. There have been new spots opened up in medical schools … and fast tracking for internationally-trained family physicians,' Bjerre said. 'The expectation is that over time, access will improve.' This article was updated from a previous version that misspelled Dr. Cathy Risdon's surname.
CBC
10-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Ontario seeking primary care teams for 300,000 patients in plan to match people with doctors
Social Sharing Ontario is looking for up to 80 new or expanded primary care teams to serve 300,000 patients, as it plans to build a system that automatically attaches people to a family doctor or nurse practitioner team based on their postal code. Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the province is launching a call for proposals on Thursday, with $213 million attached to create or expand the 80 teams as part of a $1.8-billion announcement she made on the eve of the provincial election. Jones and former federal Liberal health minister Jane Philpott, who the Progressive Conservative government has tapped to be the head of a provincial primary care action team, announced in January that Ontario would spend that money over the next few years to give all Ontarians access to primary care by 2029. The government plans to achieve that by creating a system that automatically connects people to a primary care team based on postal code, and this call for proposals is targeted to the postal codes that have the highest number of people without a primary care provider. Jones says the 80 new or expanded primary care teams will be expected to pull from the Health Care Connect waitlist to fill their rosters. She says today's announcement builds on a previous one from early 2024, when 78 new or expanded primary care teams were announced. "What's exciting is we've already seen some of those teams are completely operational and actually exceeding their commitment to matching patients who are looking for primary care clinicians," Jones said in an interview. "[This] announcement really builds on that. Up to 80 teams is what we hope to be able to approve, frankly, by summer and again, if the February announcement is any indication, they're ready, and they're ready to get started, and they're ready to hire and to take on those patients." 2.5 million Ontarians don't have family doctor: association Jones and Philpott's plan would connect two million more people to primary care, which they say would fulfil the goal of attaching everyone to a family doctor or nurse practitioner. The Ontario Medical Association says there are 2.5 million Ontarians without a family doctor right now and the number is expected to rise to 4.4 million in a year, but Jones cites data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which says that 90 per cent of Ontarians have a regular health-care provider. This plan would cover that last 10 per cent, she says. WATCH | Over 1,000 people lined up to try to get a family doctor in Walkerton, Ont., in January: Hundreds wait in the snow to get a family doctor in rural Ontario 3 months ago Duration 2:03 The primary care teams would include a family doctor or nurse practitioner, and other health-care professionals such as nurses, physician assistants, social workers and dietitians. Operating models include family health teams, community health centres, nurse practitioner-led clinics, and Indigenous primary health-care organizations. The list of 125 postal codes where the need is highest is just the start of the location-based plan, Philpott said. "There are needs everywhere, but in some cases, the numbers of people who don't have access to primary care are higher than in other areas," she said. "We all wish that we could fill these gaps overnight, but it's going to take a little bit of time, and so with these very significant investments that the government is making, we wanted to make sure that, as we start to roll it out, that it goes to the places where there are very high numbers of unattached." Ontario is also putting an additional $22 million toward helping existing primary care teams meet rising costs for their facilities and supplies, and $37 million in Ontario Health Teams. The government expects to do a second call for proposals in September.
