This article originally appeared in the Winter 2021 issue of the Ontario Medical Review magazine.
Physician shortages, system inequities among top priorities
The pandemic has served to spotlight issues in our fragmented health-care system and accelerate change at a pace none of us have ever known. I witnessed these issues and the devastating impacts of health inequities during an eye-opening visit to northern Ontario.
OMA President Dr. Adam Kassam and I travelled to Sudbury on Oct. 24 to launch the OMA’s Prescription for Northern Ontario. Here, I met Dr. Sarita Verma, dean, and Dr. Sarah Newbery, assistant dean of physician workforce strategy at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. They highlighted northern health disparities, such as the chronic shortage of doctors, the disproportionate impact of the opioid crisis and mental health issues, unsafe drinking water and inadequate health-care facilities and resources in Indigenous communities.
I was particularly moved when I met Denise Sandul in a field of crosses. Denise lost her son to the opioid crisis and set up a cross to commemorate him there. Today there are more than 200, each bearing the name of someone who died as a result of the opioid crisis. This is something that community members see daily, a visual reminder of the need for mental health supports and the local toll of the opioid crisis.
Access to high-quality health care is a core tenet of a functioning society, but doctors know that residents of northern Ontario experience higher rates of poor mental health, depression, medication use and hospitalization.
Physician shortages only exacerbate these challenges. One in eight adults in northern Ontario and over one million Ontarians do not have a family doctor. Despite the increased need for mental health care, northern Ontario was also short 40 psychiatrists before the pandemic and the need is much greater now. At the same time, physicians across the province, particularly in the north, are facing unprecedented levels of burnout. System-level barriers contributing to burnout must be addressed to ensure physicians can provide excellent care to our communities every day.
Ontario’s doctors have an ambitious plan to address these critical issues unique to the north and those being faced across the province to improve health care for all Ontarians. In this edition of the Ontario Medical Review, we present some of the issues and the themes outlined in Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ 5-Point Plan for Better Health Care. You will read a number of statistics and recommendations that illustrate the need for change in our health-care system. It is important to remember that behind these statistics are doctors and our neighbours, friends and loved ones who they care for every day.
Top image: Denise Sandul, founder of Crosses for Change, stands with OMA CEO Allan O’Dette, centre, and President Dr. Adam Kassam at a memorial event in Sudbury.