Ontario NDP calling for change after family doctor leaves for private health clinic

The Ontario NDP are highlighting yet another issue contributing to the lack of family doctors available in the province right now.

NDP MPP Jessica Bell said over 1,600 patients were left scrambling when a family doctor within the downtown Taddle Creek Family Health Team announced she was leaving the practice.

“You could imagine having 1,600 people suddenly left without a doctor creates a lot of distress for people and it’s also potentially dangerous … There was no doctor available to take up these patients at Taddle Creek so they had to go out on their own,” explained Bell.

Just a few months later, it was revealed the doctor had moved to a for-profit clinic that charges patients up to $5,000 a year for care.

“We are very concerned about the rise of private medical clinics in Ontario like MDDirect and what this means for the future of health care. I am frightened that the Conservatives continue to move down the path of creating a two-tier healthcare system where we have a for-profit care system for people who can pay $4,995 a year to access their doctor and a public health system for the rest of us,” said Bell.

One of the patients left without a family doctor, Erella Gagon, said the continuity of care is what has kept her alive.

“The reason I’m alive today is because my family doctor was familiar with me and up to date and saw me through four brain surgeries, radiation and all that she could see in my face, that things were changing and developing a rare symptom of the kind of brain tumors that were dogging me by just looking at me,” said Gagon.

She says this kind of care isn’t possible without a family doctor.

“Ontarians can no longer rely on this continuity of care if they’re jumping between clinics and doctors and left with no doctor at all. Conditions like mine can be spotted too late.”

Another patient, 87-year-old Wendy Campbell, said she was scared when she found out she needed to find a new family doctor.

“This isn’t about just one doctor and thousands of patients abandoned. It’s about the erosion of our healthcare system, in particular, primary care delivered by family doctors,” said Campbell.

Earlier this week, CityNews highlighted one Mississauga doctor who says the paperwork burden is forcing her to shut the doors of her practice, leaving another 1,000 patients without a family doctor.

Currently, 2.3 million Ontarians are without a family doctor and that number is expected to double in the next two years.

“We know that our hospitals are chronically underfunded and have significant staffing shortages, which means that we see people waiting too long in the emergency room even if they’re in extreme pain. And we’re seeing people wait too long for medically necessary care,” said Campbell.

Ontario Medical Association President Dr. Andrew Park said there have been two main reasons family doctors are leaving the industry in droves – the cost of family business and the administrative burden.

“Funding hasn’t kept up with the cost of doing business as a family practitioner, where a lot of people don’t realize that family doctors run their own small business and where we’ve seen inflation at record levels and we’ve seen compensation at zero or one per cent increase, that’s just not matching up to a line to run a productive business.”

Dr. Park said he couldn’t comment on the family doctors leaving to go to private delivery of health care.

“I’m sure that exists, but it’s not the majority,” said Dr. Park. “They’re leaving to go to hospitals, they’re leaving to go to focus practice, but they’re still contributing to a system. They’re leaving that bedrock, which is a comprehensive longitudinal family medicine, which we so sorely need across the province.”

The Minister of Health said it’s a violation of the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act (CFMA) to charge an individual for an OHIP-insured service and that any patient who feels they have been charged for an OHIP-insured service can contact the CFMA program.

“The ministry reviews all possible violations that come to its attention and ensures that all OHIP-insured patients who are charged for an insured service are reimbursed in full,” read a statement from a ministry spokesperson.

The ministry adds they have invested $110 million to launch an expansion of interprofessional primary care teams while adding hundreds of undergraduate and medical seats across the province, with 60 per cent specifically for family medicine in hopes of ensuring 98 per cent of Ontarians have a primary care provider over the next several years.