College of Family Physicians focused on Cambridge doctor shortage

Roughly 65,000 residents in the Region of Waterloo are currently without a family doctor, a number that balloons to 2.2 million provincially.

According to data from 2022, two years prior 1.8 million Ontarians were left without a family physician.

According to one Cambridge physician, it’s a trend heading in the wrong direction, especially when considering the aging population in Cambridge.

“We know our community’s facing a crisis,” Dr. Mekalai Kumanan, president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, said.

“Ultimately, we want to see very high attachment of patients to family physician. This is important because what we see is better health outcomes, longer life expectancy and really important system benefits.”

A lack of family physicians has far reaching consequences and places significant burden on other aspects of the healthcare system, Kumanan says.

The more people who lack a primary care provider means more people accessing health care in other ways, such as the hospital and emergency department. 

But as Cambridge Memorial Hospital struggles with staffing issues of their own and with emergency room wait times that are among the longest in the province, that already less than ideal option is becoming an unrealistic alternative.

Being unable to access healthcare in a reasonable amount of time can lead to a lack of preventative care measures like cancer screenings and vaccinations.

There are several reasons for the shortage, Kumanan says. From retirements to medical students shying away from family medicine and entering other sectors of the healthcare field.

One of the biggest strains is the administration duties associated with the job, which can take up to 20 hours a week just in paperwork, she says. That’s on top of in-person patient care hours, resulting in a high level of burnout.

Kumanan estimates that 75 per cent of family physicians are not working in team-based support, meaning they lack direct access to other healthcare providers like nurse practitioners and pharmacists.

So what can be done to ensure more residents have faster access to a family doctor?

Recruitment is an obvious one but making the job more appealing is critical, she says.

“We have to look at ways to streamline administrative work so we can increase capacity in primary care,” Kumanan said.

“We also need to look at retaining family physicians and draw more medical students into being family physicians by relieving some of these pain points.”

There's work is being done between the OCFP and the provincial government that is focused on solutions.

Deputy premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones addressed the issue and a few of the strategies the provincial government is deploying in order to shore up the shortages both locally and across the province at a press conference on Thursday in Cambridge.

“It’s been a very exciting time as we make changes to ensure that individuals who have the qualifications to practice in the province of Ontario get that right quickly,” Jones said.

“In late summer I issued a directive to the college of physicians in Ontario ensuring internationally educated physicians would have their applications assessed and ultimately reviewed, and if appropriate approved and given a license quickly.”

Jones also referenced the “As of Right” rules, which allows any clinician and registered health practitioner, if they're practicing and licensed in another Canadian jurisdiction, to come and begin practicing in Ontario as they go through the the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario process.

“They’re really exciting times to see, as we increase the number of residency spots in our universities and as we increase the number of offerings for individuals who want to practice nursing, be a paramedic or lab tech,” Jones said.

“Clearly we want physicians and clinicians to be able to practice in the community of their choice in Ontario as quickly as possible.”