The Town of Collingwood is signing its name to a resolution being shared across Ontario, calling out the Ontario government for not doing enough with dollars to recognize the doctor shortage plaguing the province.
As part of their agenda on July 22, councillors considered supporting a motion crafted jointly by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the Ontario Medical Association. The motion states 2.3 million Ontarians currently lack access to a family doctor, and 40 per cent of family doctors are considering retirement over the next five years.
“It’s to address what we all know to be a serious issue in our province...particularly outside of the GTA [Greater Toronto Area],” said Coun. Deb Doherty, who put the motion forward and asked for notice to be waived so the motion would be passed in time for the annual AMO Conference, which takes place in Ottawa from Aug. 18-21.
“Now we have municipalities competing against each other for physicians. Not every municipality can afford to play that game,” she said.
According to the motion, the percentage of family physicians practicing comprehensive family medicine has declined from 77 in 2008 to 65 per cent in 2022 and per-capita health-care spending in Ontario is the lowest of all provinces in Canada.
As reported earlier this year, the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team estimates there are between 6,000 and 7,000 people in South Georgian Bay who currently do not have a local family doctor.
The Ontario College of Family Physicians estimates that by 2026, one in four residents throughout Ontario will be without a family doctor. According to the most recent Ontario auditor general’s report, one in five emergency visits across Ontario involved patients going to emergency for non-urgent issues because they didn’t have a family doctor or access to other services.
During Monday’s discussion, Mayor Yvonne Hamlin pointed to her experience serving on the South Georgian Bay Physician Recruitment Committee – comprised of mayors and staff from the four municipalities – until it was disbanded in 2022. As part of that work, the group was successful in getting Collingwood named as a high-need municipality for doctors.
“I knew there was something that was preventing family doctors from setting up here in town,” said Hamlin. “This issue is a hangover from us not being allowed to have new doctors set up here.”
On Monday night, the motion was passed unanimously by councillors.
