Dear Colleagues, It has been a tumultuous few weeks with the surge of COVID cases. I know many of us are dealing with ongoing and exacerbated pandemic stresses – trying to make sense of new gui...

Dear Colleagues, The arrival of 2022 brings a mix of emotions. On the one hand, I hope you have had time to connect with the people and activities that bring you joy. At the same time, with COVID ca...

As you know rapidly rising cases of Omicron will have both individual and system-wide implications over these next 4-8 weeks. Many of you are supporting local COVID vaccination, testing and assessmen...

Dear Colleagues, As you know, we have entered a new and precarious phase of the pandemic. With COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant surging, Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health (C...

Dear Colleagues, With vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 starting, I feel we are taking a hopeful step toward a return to a more normal life. Along with the optimism brought by this good news, I h...

Dear Colleagues, It has been a while since we’ve been in touch and as a result my message is longer than usual. So feel free to grab a coffee for this longer read! We have lots of helpful upda...

Dear Colleagues, I hope that the summer has been treating you well. I've been grateful for the time I've had to be away to recharge and I hope that you have had this opportunity as well – a b...

Dear Colleagues, Those of you who work in patient enrolment models will have received a memo yesterday from Ontario Health (OH) about accessing aggregate primary care vaccination reports of your ros...

Dear Colleagues, It's encouraging to see vaccination rates increasing and COVID rates continuing to decline, and with this an ability to increase in-person visits and start to exhale a bit to consid...

Dear Colleagues, These last few weeks have been a time of national and personal grieving. We were deeply saddened by the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential s...

Colleagues, Yesterday, the Chief Medical Officer of Health provided information about the second dose for individuals who received a first dose of AstraZeneca (AZ)/ COVISHIELD COVID-19 vaccine. Ple...

Dear Colleagues, I am sure you have heard yesterday’s announcement on the pause on further use of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine as a first dose. The Ontario Ministry of Health announced that th...

Dear Colleagues, We are providing this update given the recent changes in Phase 2 Ministry guidance, in particular moving pregnancy from “at risk” to “highest priority” healt...

Dear Colleagues, We are in a devastating phase of the pandemic in Ontario, particularly so in our hardest hit communities, and it comes at a time when we collectively are already weary. My focus in ...

Dear Colleagues, I don’t have to tell any of you working on the frontlines of care what Ontario is facing. Given the extreme pressure on hospital ICUs and critical care beds, Ontario Health ha...

Dear Colleagues, We know family doctors want to play a critical role in supporting the vaccine rollout. It’s clear our patients want us involved too, based on this public opinion survey we di...

Colleagues, The past week has been notable for the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccines in several primary care offices across six Public Health Units (PHU). I’ve been following the progress a...

Dear Colleagues, You may well be aware of the information released yesterday by retired general Rick Hillier, head of Ontario's Vaccine Distribution Task Force. We were pleased to see the Ministry e...

Dear Colleagues, Following my message from last week and our information posted this past weekend, we promised to update you on any new developments. We met Tuesday with General Hillier, together ...

Dear Colleagues, Over the weekend, we received updates from the Ministry of Health about the vaccination rollout and are sharing a summary of these updates with you. Thankfully, more doses of the...

Dear Colleagues, The landscape continues to change almost daily as it relates to COVID-19. Here are the latest updates that we have about phase 2 of the vaccine rollout, new resources, and our work ...

Dear Colleagues, I have heard from many of you about your frustrations and disappointment with the vaccine rollout. There has been confusion and inconsistencies in the distribution of the vaccines a...

Dear Colleagues, As you are aware, the COVID-19 response is changing rapidly and there is a lack of clarity on many aspects of the vaccine distribution. We are advocating strongly for clarity around...

Dear Colleagues, Happy New Year and to a healthier 2021 for everyone. I am writing with a request as it relates to primary care’s role in Phase 1 of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination rollou...

Dear Colleagues, As we approach the New Year, I am hopeful about the COVID-19 vaccines and a better 2021 for everyone. The OCFP is continuing to advocate, in partnership with other associations*, fo...

Colleagues, You are likely aware of the recent COVID-19 vaccine developments, including approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the release of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) COVID-19 Immu...

Dear Colleagues, My newsletter starts with an apology to members. Along with other professional associations and family physicians, I participated in drafting a letter to be sent to the Ministry of ...

Dear Colleagues, I want to start by acknowledging the hard work you are doing. From large centres, like Markham, Scarborough, Ottawa and Toronto, to rural settings, like Red Lake, Thunder Bay and Fo...

Colleagues, I hope your October has included a few of those beautiful Ontario fall days. I have no doubt this month is a busy one in your practices. We have heard from many of you about the signific...

Colleagues, I am honoured to be starting my two-year term as the 63rd president of the OCFP. I want to thank Dr. Jennifer Young for her outstanding leadership these past two years, and especially du...

It has been a privilege – connecting with you and representing family medicine in Ontario, especially in these last six months of confusion, anxiety and re-working the way we care for our patie...

Dear Colleagues, We are in it – an increase in cases, return to school, flu season and continuing care for our patients. As we see the surge in cases, we need to tell our patients – soci...

Dear Colleagues, Our offices are increasingly busy and the upcoming viral illness season looms. With the DFCM at UofT, we had our biggest COVID Community of Practice session on August 21, discussin...

Dear Colleagues, We are now in the last weeks of summer and, given the return to school, we will be seeing more viral respiratory illnesses. COVID testing will most likely be required for children w...

Dear Colleagues, Community-based family physicians are now eligible to receive PPE at no cost through the province’s pandemic supply. You can submit PPE requests without the expectation tha...

Dear Colleagues, I wanted to share with you the input we provided to the OMA/Ministry of Health Primary Care Working Group, chaired by Drs. Nadia Alam and David Price. We were asked to submit our th...

Dear Colleagues, I hope all of you will be able to take some time off this summer, and don’t forget to turn off your emails! Family doctors have been increasing in-person care and our website ...

Dear Colleagues, These last weeks have brought us back to another reality that we cannot ignore and must do something about. The atrocious examples of racism are disturbing and require us to list...

Dear Colleagues, We finally have full-on spring! This coincides with Ontario starting to re-open and there is that yearning for a return to “normal”. We know, though, that we need to rem...

Dear Colleagues, Wishing all of you good health and increased calm in these changing times. My own sense of unease is shifting as we see a flattening of the curve but the uncertainties remain - what...

Dear Colleagues, Important updates to share with you. Patient reluctance to seek care. Our patients need to know that we are keeping them safe – in our offices, in the ER, and in all ...

Dear Colleagues, Please see the link below to an open letter that we have sent to the Minister of Health asking her to “fix the billing issues that allow all offices to offer high-quality and...

Dear Colleagues, Each week brings new realities to each of us, new challenges and hopefully new successes in your ability as a family physician and as a community to respond to this pandemic. Our pop...

Dear Colleagues, We are another week into this crisis - I hope you and your families are well. I am so aware of the enormous stress that you (and we) are under as medical communities struggle to keep...

Hello colleagues, Here is our new IN-OFFICE ASSESSMENT GUIDANCE. We cannot just close our offices to all in-person visits, and I hope this guidance will empower you and your staff to manage the risks...

Dear Colleagues, Transforming the way we do our day to day work is not an easy task. I am sure by now that all of you have met with your staff, gotten new clinic processes going and read more emails ...

Dear Colleagues, I know you are all working tirelessly to keep your patients safe. Like me, it's becoming increasingly challenging to keep up to date on evolving guidance, expectations, and managing ...

My fellow family physicians, Happy new year! As we begin 2020, I wanted to give you all a snapshot of the activities that have kept the OCFP busy, as we work to achieve our vision: Leaders for a Heal...

Today, I saw 25 of my patients - disclosed a new diagnosis of breast cancer, injected a shoulder, reviewed options for knee osteoarthritis, deprescribed a tricyclic, helped someone yet again try to q...

This word cloud summarizes the day that over 40 Ontario leaders of primary care spent together on September 21! We had the honour to share it with Dr. Robert Varnum, a family physician from the UK wh...

Day in and day out, we connect with our patients and try to best address their needs. But what about the patient perspective? This month, I had the privilege of joining forces with Julie Drury, patie...

Joy in Work. It matters for all of us, and for the people with whom we work. We have a very human need to feel that our work is meaningful, that it makes a difference...

Now that the Guidance Document for Ontario Health Teams is out, we are getting a better idea of the changes that are to come. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has a vision that all Ontarians...

Change is coming. and with it, the arrival of Ontario Health Teams over the next few years. Many of you have reached out to me and the OCFP, wondering what the government's health reforms will mean f...

My fellow family physicians, We now have an arbitrated settlement between the OMA and the provincial government. Along with mandated annual fee increases for doctors, no changes to any Patient Enroll...

My fellow family physicians, Our patients need us. Sometimes those needs are straightforward, such as advice on self-care or a simple prescription. Other times, their needs are more complex and requi...

Hello fellow family physicians. This is my first message to you as your new OCFP President, written with a desire to connect with you, and hear from you in the upcoming two years. I am a comprehensiv...

Dr. Glenn Brown (OCFP President, 2016-2018) June 2017 Family physicians represent 68 per cent of all opioid prescribing in Ontario and, whether it’s fair or not, we are at the centre of the i...