Leaked health-care data paints troubling picture for Ontarians about to lose family doctor

At least three million people are at risk of losing their family doctor over the next five years, according to documents obtained by the Ontario Liberals.

Someone within the health-care sector leaked the classified documents to the Liberals, which reveals more than 2,300 family doctors in the province are over the age of 65 and may soon retire, meaning more Ontarians will have to go without a primary care physician.

The same data showing that more than four million people – 1-in-4 – are not “rostered” to or have a regular family doctor, far greater than the 2.5 million previously reported.

“This government has had six years to address the situation, fix the situation and they haven’t delivered,” said Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie.

Liberal Health Critic Dr. Adil Shamji said the documents paint a troubling picture, adding that the scale of the challenge and crisis in primary care is far greater than ever imagined.

“Even if we get a bigger number of doctors, we need those doctors in the right places. And we have nearly half of all municipalities and counties in Ontario with not a single family doctor signing up patients to be their rostered patients that they have a stable, secure longitudinal relationship with,” said Shamji.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones quick to defend the government’s record, saying that the province has expanded access to medical school, the number of spots available and even building new medical schools.

“So we’re doing all of this work, whether it’s in the short term, the long-term or the medium term, to make sure that we have access and continue to have access.”

The Liberals also making the point that it’s not a lack of medical school graduates but the choices they’re making by not becoming a family physician. Instead 6,000 new doctors are specializing in emergency or sports medicine.

The Ford government recently appointed former federal Liberal health minister Dr. Jane Philpott to lead a new Primary Care Action Team, which aims to connect people in Ontario to primary care within the next five years. She is scheduled to start the new role on Dec. 1.

The Opposition NDP pointed fingers at both parties and their records.

“We’ve seen government after government, both Liberal and Conservativ, fail Ontario and that’s what this is about. We’re going to have almost five million Ontarians by the time we get to June 2026 without a family doctor.”

Crombie says it’s too little too late.

“I have no confidence in their ability to deliver. They don’t even have a plan to deliver.”

Mark McAllister contributed to this report