Today’s 2023 Budget from the Ontario Government recognizes the important role of primary care in our health system noting that primary care and family physicians are the foundation of Ontario’s health care system.
The Budget reaffirms commitments toward expanding existing and creating 18 new primary care teams in communities with the greatest need. We are pleased to see new investments to launch practice-ready assessments and add additional medical graduate seats. These commitments align with our Plan of Action.
The government’s multi-year commitment to adding undergraduate and post-graduate medical seats is a good start but must be paired with a commitment to improve models of care that will attract medical students to family medicine and retain them once in practice.
It is critical that we support both new family doctors and those already practising. Central to this is reducing the overwhelming administrative burden they are experiencing and ensuring that all family doctors in Ontario, regardless of the payment model they work in, have the support of primary care teams. Achieving progress in these areas will help improve Ontarians’ access to family doctors.
Every Ontarian deserves a family doctor and the OCFP welcomes the opportunity to continue working with the provincial government to realize this goal.
Read the OCFP’s Plan of Action, Solutions for Today: Ensuring Every Ontarian has Access to a Family Doctor.
See the 2023 Budget.