Toronto, April 28, 2022 – Following today’s 2022 Ontario Budget, the Ontario College of Family Physicians wants to stress, once again, the need to invest in Ontario’s family doctors to ensure that every Ontarian has access to a family doctor.
In the best healthcare systems in the world, every patient has access to a family doctor. Today’s 2022 Spring Budget did not include investments that are so urgently needed to tackle the growing shortage of family doctors in Ontario.
“COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of Ontarians having access to high-quality and comprehensive healthcare— and that begins with access to a family doctor. Unfortunately, 1.3 million Ontarians say they are living life without a family doctor,” said Dr. Elizabeth Muggah, President, Ontario College of Family Physicians. “We are looking for this government, and any future government, to ensure that every Ontarian across the province has equitable access to a family doctor. We didn’t see that in today’s budget, but we’ve had productive discussions with the government in the past and we expect those will continue.”
“We know that having access to a regular family doctor means lower hospitalization rates, improved health outcomes and a healthcare system that is better able to sustain itself,” said Kimberly Moran, Chief Executive Officer, Ontario College of Family Physicians. “It is important we learn the lessons of the pandemic and ensure that every Ontarian has a family doctor.”
Earlier this year, informed by input from members, the OCFP launched an advocacy campaign titled “Life Without a Doctor”, to highlight the growing shortage of family doctors in Ontario and proposes solutions that all political parties are encouraged to support in the 2022 Provincial Election. These solutions include:
- Ensuring every Ontarian has a family doctor alongside a team so patients can get the help they need faster.
- Creating more accessible care by increasing the time that family doctors can spend providing direct patient care.
- Ensuring every Ontarian has a family doctor by recruiting and retaining more family doctors within the province.
The OCFP and its members are asking all parties to make the necessary commitments in their 2022 election platforms to implement these solutions, as an important step forward in delivering more equitable and accessible care to Ontarians. For more information, please visit LifeWithoutADoctor.ca.
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About the Ontario College of Family Physicians
The OCFP represents more than 15,000 family doctors who support Ontarians in both urban and rural communities in our province. Our members have direct insight into the unique healthcare needs of Ontario’s varying populations. With their guidance, and together with our family physician members, the OCFP has developed three overarching solutions for Ontario parties to implement post-election that will increase access to care for more Ontarians.