Nearly 18 percent of family doctors based in the Toronto area are considering closing their doors within the next five years, according to a recent survey.
A report penned by eight researchers and published in the monthly peer-reviewed medical journal Canadian Family Physician surveyed doctors practicing “office-based, comprehensive family medicine” in Toronto and the surrounding areas, and asked them about their future plans.
The study firstly aimed to discover “the extent to which family physicians closed their doors altogether or for in-person visits during the pandemic,” but also found that 77 of the 439 family doctors surveyed, representing 17.5 percent, were planning to close in the next five years.
The researchers found that about four percent of these doctors were planning to close their practices within the next year, while 13.7 percent were planning closure in the next two to five years.
“Our results raise concerns about a shrinking work force, with a substantial number of physicians considering closing their practices in the near future—a worrisome finding in the context of 1 in 10 Canadians already reporting not having a regular family physician,” researchers wrote.
The researchers did not ask the doctors why they are preparing to close their practices in the near future, but wrote they hypothesized several reasons, including “health concerns, financial issues, and burnout.”
Health-Care Concerns
A recent Nanos survey found that concerns among Canadians over the country’s health-care system have reached a two-year high, topping inflation as the leading national issue.“After trailing issues like jobs/the economy, inflation, and the environment, healthcare has been trending up and hit a two year high,” wrote Nanos Research Chair, Nik Nanos, in the report published on Nov. 29.
Doctors working in hospitals across the country have also reported respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children—an issue Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said is placing “extra demand” on Canadian hospitals.
MPs in the House of Commons have recently deplored shortages and wait times in hospitals across Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Dec. 13 that his government is looking to reform the health-care system rather than provide it with more funding in its current state.
“It wouldn’t be the right thing to do to just throw more money at the problem and sit back and watch the problem not get fixed because we didn’t use this moment to say, ‘No, no, no, it’s time to improve the system,'” Trudeau told The Canadian Press.
“Canadians are right to look at all orders of government and say, ‘This is terrible. You guys really need to solve this.’”
