In Ontario, those who have a family doctor are considered to be fortunate, but not all of them get the benefits they should. On Feb 28th, I called to make an appointment with a family doctor and was told the next available appointment was May 21st (12 weeks away). For years now, even with a family doctor, excessively long waits for appointments have resulted in receiving most health care through walk-in clinics and hospital emergency departments. Not to say all family doctors are the same, for some, it only takes a day or two to get an appointment.

In a recent provincial election, providing a family doctor for everyone was a big part of a couple of the candidates’ platforms. It was implied that the percentage of people with family doctors was a gauge to measure how well our healthcare system works. However, being provided with a family doctor that you can’t see within a reasonable amount of time does little for the patient and nothing to relieve the hospital emergency room backlogs.

Shortages of family doctors does not mean our entire health care system is bad. Although it still needs a lot of work, aside from long waits, I would rate some of the care received lately at walk-in clinics and hospital emergency departments up to 5 out of 5.

We have a health care system that is in transition. Changes in the way doctors are paid, hospital procedures, and the hiring of more people make the system hard to rate. Don’t be fooled by those who claim the number of people with a family doctor is a way of measuring it.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com