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Most Canadian adults, 83 percent, say they have access to a regular doctor or nurse, according to a new report. But those with a dedicated provider may face long wait times, the report’s author says.
“The one thing that surprised me was the number of people who said they had access to a regular health care provider,” said Kathleen Morris, vice president of research and analytics at Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) in Toronto.
But even people with a primary care doctor can have trouble getting in without waiting weeks, Morris said.
“Some of it may be because people have more chronic conditions that last longer when they visit.”
Thursday’s report from CIHI provides insight into the shared priorities agreed upon by federal, provincial and territorial governments in 2023. That includes:
- Increasing the supply of healthcare workers and reducing waiting times for operations, which recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
- Improving access to mental health and substance use services.
- Modernizing healthcare information systems and digital tools for securely sharing electronic health information.
According to the report, in 2023, 5.4 million (17 percent) Canadians aged 18 and older did not have access to a regular health care provider, such as a primary care physician, general practitioner, medical specialist or nurse practitioner.
GPs and nurses are considered the “lynchpin” in the management of health care services, Morris said.
Morris said provinces have different models to ensure people get primary care, such as team-based care for people newly diagnosed with diabetes, where a doctor works with a nurse and a dietitian to get a person’s blood sugar levels under control.
No room for complacency
Overall, Dr. said. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency physician in Toronto, said the progress report on Canada’s health care system amounts to an A-minus grade with “trudges.” of progress.”
Venugopal, who works evenings and nights at three city hospitals, said a “worrying minority” of patients he sees may not have a primary care physician or someone available for follow-up after he puts stitches to heal them. have it removed.
“I don’t think anyone is complacent about the improvements we need to make, especially in primary care,” Venugopal said. “The reality is that when family medicine and primary care are strong, it strengthens all of medicine.”
A report from the Canadian Medical Association calls on governments to give half of all Canadians access to a doctor within five years, to cover costs in another province if wait times are too long and to tackle membership fees at private clinics .
A wild goose chase for healthcare
Jenna Kedy, 20, of Halifax, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis as a child. More recently, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, and in May she developed pneumonia.
Kedy, a patient partner at CIHI, has a complicated medical history and has not had a regular GP for the past two years.
“It was a really scary time in my life when I had these symptoms,” Kedy recalls. “I remember going on wild goose chases for several days and going to two or three hospitals before I could actually be seen and supported, which is a real shame because that caused a lot of frustration, mental health stress and even stress. I feel so defeated.”
Nearly all provinces and territories experienced a net increase in the number of primary care physicians (2021–2022), nurses and practice assistants (2022) compared to the previous year.
But GPs see fewer patients per year on average, from 1,746 in 2013 to 1,353 in 2021, CIHI previously reported.
“One of the benefits of having good data and comparable measurements across the country is that the provinces can learn from each other,” Morris said.
CIHI plans to develop indicators and measures in more specific areas, such as substance use disorder treatment, in future reports.
