OMA releases progress report on its prescription for primary care
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is sounding the alarm about primary care, once again, following up on a prescription that it wrote the provincial government almost 18 months ago.
OMA found serious issues facing family doctors including what it calls a "crushing administrative burden."
And while it says progress has been made on some fronts, in other cases, including northern Ontario's, the situation is getting worse.
"From the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, it estimates that as of June 2022 that there was a shortage of 364 physicians. It's a fairly significant physician population for the population size that is northern Ontario," said new OMA president Dr. Andrew Park.
Park said the region faces a number of issues, including physical access to care, made more difficult by weather, travel and distance.
According to the OMA, doctors are burning out across the province and in rural, northeastern Ontario.
"The major issue that we are going to need to continue to have programs which are funded and committed to the community level helping to contain and recruit physicians to the northern communities," he said.
"We know that there are some very unique challenges to patients in the north and those are going to require some dedicated solutions. One of the issues we face as health care leaders in the province is that the difference of practice, of two practices across the street is wide and varied when we compare that to the rest of the province. There's an incredible amount of diversity and complexity that comes into how we practice the different patients that we serve and that's a really unique challenge in the north."
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
Dr. David Barber is a Queen's University professor and family doctor in the Kingston area.
"I think people forget that it's the family doctors that are running the health care system. They're working in emerges, emerg rooms, like Dr. Park is. They're running the hospital, they will sometimes do obstetrics," Barber said.
"You can highlight the north, but the reality is, the reality is this shortage is across Ontario. I mean I don't think that there is any community not affected by this and I think that for me, the idea of looking at this is that it's going to get worse."
New programs have been launched and additional funding has been committed to getting and keeping more doctors locally, but the OMA said the chronic shortage needs urgent attention.
CTV News reached out to the Minister of Health and a spokesperson said they recognize the unique challenges faced by the region.
She writes in part:
"We have launched the largest medical school expansion in 15 years, most recently adding an additional 14 undergraduate and 22 post-graduate seats at the North Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), invested $32 million for resident salaries and benefits, medical education and training, allied health programs, and the Remote First Nations Family Medicine Residency Program at NOSM, funded nearly 80 new physicians through the Northern and Rural Recruitment and Retention Initiative (NRRRI), funded 150,000 Northern travel Health Travel Grant through a nearly $50 million last year and, as part of Your Health, we are creating up to 18 Ontario Health Teams to help bridge the gap in accessing interprofessional primary care across the province."
The progress report comes as North Shore Health Network announced its fifth emergency room closure in two weeks, citing a lack of appropriate staffing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway.
BREAKING Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife’s edge.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
Mediterranean staple may lower your risk of death from dementia, study finds
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, argues he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Man banned from owning animals after fatal Calgary dog attack
The owner of three Calgary dogs that got loose and mauled a woman to death in 2022 has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine within one year and banned from owning any animal for 15 years.
Have you been removed from your family doctor’s patient list for visiting an Ontario walk-in clinic?
Some Ontarians are expressing frustration after they said that they were removed from their family doctor’s patient list for visiting a walk-in clinic in a process being called “de-rostering.”
East-end Ottawa family dealing with massive rat infestation
Residents in Ottawa’s Elmridge Gardens complex are dealing with a rat infestation that just won’t go away. Now, after doing everything they can to try to fix the issue, they are pleading with the city to step in and help.