More than 36,000 in Windsor-Essex do not have a family doctor: OCFP

The Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) says 1.8 million Ontarians, including more than 36,000 in Windsor-Essex, do not have a family doctor — and if current trends continue, that number could rise to 3 million across the province by 2025.

That equates to one in five Ontarians being without a family doctor in the next three years.

Current trends are resulting in a trickle effect which is hampering the local healthcare system, according to the OCFP, which says almost 8,200 people who do not have a regular family doctor visited emergency departments in Windsor-Essex in the last two years.

"With the COVID pandemic, there's some research demonstrating more people had retired or went out of family practice at that point than had done so previously," said Dr. Jennifer Bondy, a Windsor-based family physician who sits on the OCFP's board of directors, adding younger doctors have suddenly exited the field as well.

"We've [also] seen a decline in the number of people choosing family medicine since about 2015 when we started reducing access to these team-based care models."

A reinvestment toward team-based care is one immediate solution toward alleviating the pressures on family doctors, Bondy said.

"You might have a clinic staffed with family physicians, but also a dietitian, social worker, nurse, nurse practitioner and pharmacist,. There can be a variety of different people who can contribute equally in their own area of expertise," she said.

"The end result is patients get better care because they're getting care from the best people at the right time."

For the OCFP, another major issue is the time family doctors spend dealing with administrative tasks.

According to Bondy, more than 25 per cent of family doctors’ time is doing administrative tasks. While a team-based approach would allow others to take over the paperwork aspect of the job, Bondy added forms need to be standardized.

"I could have any number of different forms land on my desk in a day. If I'm having to redo pieces over and over again, that could cost me a great deal of time," she said.

Until recently, Jasmine Chappus was one of the more than 36,000 in Windsor-Essex without a family doctor.

That's because while the pandemic made living through the past few years a harrowing experience for the real estate agent, she also learned her original family doctor had retired while attempting to book an appointment in early 2020.

"It was shocking. I basically got kicked to the curb," said Chappus, adding finding a new family doctor was "very difficult."

"I found a lot of doctors weren't accepting new patients... Having to go to walk-in clinics or just rely on online resources to find as much information as I could was just very frustrating."

Chappus said her original family doctor cared for her throughout her entire life. That means she spent nearly the entire pandemic conducting her first-ever search for a new family doctor.

"I feel like a lot of people don't really think about it because most people are set up with a family doctor from a young age. But since I started looking for a new family doctor, I've come across so many people who don't have family doctors," she said.

Fortunately, Chappus found a new family doctor just last week.

"I told my stepmom about it and she is now applying to be one of his patients as well. It turns out she doesn't have a family doctor either. Who knew?"