“About three percent of family doctors across the province — 385 doctors — stopped practising between March and September 2020, according to a study led by Unity Health Toronto that was published Monday in Annals of Family Medicine.”
About 3% of Ontario family doctors stopped practising
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Researchers found that doctors 65 and older had left the job at a higher rate compared to those the same age in pre-pandemic times
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This is a big problem for patients in Ontario
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When Ontario locked down the province in March 2020, it also directed family doctors to not see patients unless it was absolutely necessary
Reseachers looked at March to September 2020 visits
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The findings came after researchers pored through the total visits to doctors across the province from March 11 to Sept. 29, 2020, and compared them to the same period the year before.
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They also analyzed the years 2010 to 2019 to figure out the baseline for those who left every year to ensure what they saw between the start of the pandemic and the year the before wasn’t a blip.
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The research builds on figures released last week that showed as of March 2020, nearly 1.8m Ontarians did not have a family doctor and another 1.7mm Ontarians have a doctor older than 65 years old.
Study confirms trend, professional group says
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Fewer family physicians across the province means there will be higher rates of hospitalization and lower life expectancy when patients are not connected to a family doctor
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When patients don’t have a family physician, they are more likely to go to the emergency room
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This increases the cost overall to the health-care system
Liam, C. (2022). Pandemic spurred exodus of Ontario family doctors, study indicates. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ont-family-physicians-1.6596653
