Bonnie Crombie’s promise on the campaign trail Thursday was pretty straightforward – more family doctors.
Speaking in Scarborough, Crombie said that Doug Ford promised to end hallway health care and hasn’t, and her fix for the problem will be more family doctors.
“You’ll get a family doctor within four years, that’s our commitment,” Crombie said.
To fix the situation, Crombie’s Liberals are promising to invest $3.1 billion “to attract, recruit, retain, and integrate 3,100 family doctors by 2029.” It’s a bold promise but likely not one that is reasonable given that there is a shortage of doctors, nurses and other health professionals not just across Canada but around the world.
“WHO estimates a projected shortfall of 10 million health workers by 2030, mostly in low- and lower-middle income countries,” the World Health Organization said in a recent report.
There are currently an estimated 2.5 million Ontario residents without access to a family doctor. As one of those residents, it isn’t easy navigating the health system without that base of support. But this has been a problem years in the making, and it is doubtful any party in the current election can solve this short term.
Crombie should be lauded, not condemned, for looking for solutions. But her plan is unlikely to bear the kind of fruit we need.
In her plan, Crombie promises that Ontario residents will get seamless access to care, including on evenings and weekends. That sounds nice, and we all want that, but family doctors are private businesses who set their own hours.
My former GP in Ottawa, Dr. Barry Dworkin, runs what I consider the model for family practice teams. It is open Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with reduced hours on the weekend. The practice operates it own walk-in clinic but only for those registered with the practice. This ensures that if you need to see someone quick, it may not be your GP, but it will be someone in the practice and they will have access to your chart.
I think every clinic should follow Dr. Dworkin’s model, but I can’t force that on a GP – and neither can Crombie.
Just before calling the election the Ford PC’s unveiled their plan, written up by Dr. Jane Philpott. For those who don’t know, Philpott is the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University and Justin Trudeau’s former minister of health.
The PCs were politically smart to bring in a Liberal to draw up some healthcare plans. But is her plan any more realistic?
Under Philpott’s plan, every Ontario resident would be connected to primary care, in some form, within the next five years, at a cost of $1.8 billion – significantly lower than Crombie’s $3.1 billion.
The truth is, though, that primary care doesn’t necessarily equal a family doctor – it could include nurse practitioner or other form of care.
Since Ford became Premier of Ontario, the province’s population has grown by roughly 14%. That is well above what the province was prepared for and what the existing system can accommodate.
In reality, most people just want a personal touch point to look after their needs and access the system, including access to specialists.
Beyond the global shortage of doctors, nurses and other health workers, we have our own homegrown problems. Ontario spent years clamping down on the number of doctors allowed into the system, and it will take years to break free of that.
The Ford government has added seats at existing medical schools while also building two new medical schools – TMU and York University. That’s not a short term solution though but a long term one. And while it may be a solution in a decade, it isn’t one now.
No one has a short-term plan to fix the doctor shortage in Ontario and anyone claiming otherwise is lying to you.