{"id":24092,"date":"2023-02-12T17:40:03","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T22:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=24092"},"modified":"2023-02-28T22:38:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T03:38:04","slug":"we-asked-about-your-challenges-getting-a-doctor-heres-what-you-told-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/we-asked-about-your-challenges-getting-a-doctor-heres-what-you-told-us\/","title":{"rendered":"We asked about your challenges getting a doctor. Here’s what you told us"},"content":{"rendered":"

(February 12, 2023)<\/p>\n

By: Clara Pasieka, CBC News<\/p>\n

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Some Ontarians who spoke to CBC Toronto say they have a family doctor but have to drive for hours to get to appointments. (Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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More than two\u00a0million Ontarians, according to a recent report, do not have a family doctor\u00a0and some tell CBC\u00a0Toronto they are going to drastic lengths looking for solutions.<\/p>\n

Although all levels of government have acknowledged the\u00a0lack of access to a primary care practitioner as an issue, the\u00a0figures gathered by\u00a0research group\u00a0INSPIRE-Primary Health Care show how big the problem really is.<\/p>\n

Dozens of patients and their families\u00a0reached out to CBC\u00a0News\u00a0to tell their stories about their quest to find\u00a0primary care in response to our survey<\/a><\/span>. Here are a few of them.<\/p>\n

In his 80s with no family doctor<\/h2>\n

Hugh Greenwood says he never could have imagined he’d be in his 80s and without access to a family physician.<\/p>\n

But in July, his doctor announced he was closing his practice.<\/p>\n

“For the first time in our 80 years, my wife and I are both without a family doctor,” said Greenwood.<\/p>\n

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People across the province are having trouble finding a primary care provider.\u00a0(Ben Nelms\/CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

He says he’s called doctors’ offices in Owen Sound, Ont. where he lives, as well as surrounding communities, but isn’t getting anywhere.<\/p>\n

“We feel like we’ve been abandoned by the Ontario health system,” he said. “We’re elderly people on a pension and we don’t \u2026 have medical care at our disposal”<\/p>\n

Greenwood says there are some walk-in clinics, but he doesn’t like that they don’t know his full health history.<\/p>\n

With prescriptions about to run out, he says he wishes he had a doctor to turn to.<\/p>\n

Cancer,\u00a0stroke survivor have to drive for hours<\/h2>\n

Gail Cunningham, a cancer survivor, and her husband, who had a stroke earlier in\u00a0the pandemic, have family doctors they love.<\/p>\n

The problem? They’re\u00a0now two to three hours away.<\/p>\n

Following a stroke that affected her husband’s mobility, the couple moved to their cottage near Lakefield, Ont., a bungalow which didn’t have stairs, Cunningham\u00a0says.<\/p>\n

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\"Gail<\/div>
Gail and Mike Cunningham drive four to five hours round-trip in a single day to visit a family doctor because physicians in their area have waitlists.\u00a0(Submitted by Gail Cunningham)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Now the only driver of the pair,\u00a0she says the more than four-hour\u00a0round trip\u00a0to Newmarket or Vaughan, where their current doctors are, leaves her exhausted.<\/p>\n

“It takes a lot of stamina to do that, a lot of energy. And I’m just wiped right out when I get home,” she said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the household has used phone appointments to avoid the drive, but it leaves her concerned not all components of a check-up are completed.<\/p>\n

Trying to switch\u00a0to a doctor\u00a0closer to their new home has proven impossible. The physicians\u00a0in her area have wait lists, she says. And she says the province won’t allow her to use its\u00a0tool to find a doctor,\u00a0Health Care Connect, because she already has one.<\/p>\n

Having any interruption in care is not an option given the household’s health concerns, she says.<\/p>\n

“We’re trapped,” she said. “It’s horrible.”<\/p>\n

‘We’re not accepting new patients’<\/h2>\n

Long drives are something Deb Kelly is considering for her family.<\/p>\n

The Kingston, Ont. mom and two-time cancer survivor says her family doctor took an early retirement this fall.<\/p>\n

Kelly has called many doctors in the area but keeps hearing\u00a0voicemails\u00a0saying,\u00a0“We’re not accepting new patients.”<\/p>\n

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Deb Kelly, far left, is pictured here with members of her family. She says they could be willing to drive five hours one-way just to get access to a primary care provider.\u00a0(Submitted by Deb Kelly)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

She’s added her family to Health Care Connect, but hasn’t heard anything yet and is increasingly worried. She recently went as far as asking a relative if their doctor, more than four hours away, might be taking patients.<\/p>\n

“It’d be better to have a doctor four or five hours away, then not have one,” she said.<\/p>\n

She says preventative medicine and continuity of care have\u00a0become increasingly important\u00a0given her cancer history and a family history of heart disease, making walk-in clinics a poor option, she says.<\/p>\n

Finding a ‘good fit’<\/h2>\n

The issues finding primary care plague the province’s large urban centres also.<\/p>\n

Alia Torres returned to live in Canada after a four year absence. She was disappointed to\u00a0find her\u00a0nurse practitioner, one she says had been a perfect fit, had left his practice.<\/p>\n

“He had made me feel really comfortable. He listened to my concerns,” she said.<\/p>\n

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