The leadership of an organization representing some 40,000 physicians and medical students in Ontario is suggesting the province needs more medical student spots and a softening of “bureaucratic barriers” to aid Hamilton’s doctor shortage.
Ontario Medical Association (OMA) president Dr. Rose Zacharias says the city’s shortage of about 50 family physicians, revealed in a 2022 city recruitment and retention report, has impacted several area of health care clinics and hospitals.
“I know that there’s entire communities and recruitment efforts to address this shortage, but it really falls on on government inside of our publicly funded health care system, all levels of government municipal, provincial and federal,” Zacharias told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.
The OMA boss was in Hamilton on Wednesday to meet with local political leaders and physicians at her alma mater, McMaster University, to outline the OMA’s recommendations which seek better community care expediting surgeries, such as hip and knee replacement.
Her visit comes amid the finalization of a transfer of that will see a city-led recruitment and retention program move to the Greater Hamilton Health Network (GHHN) — a collaboration of some 40 Ontario organizations with ties to local patients, families, care partners, and health and human service partners.
Metrics from the city’s program, dating back to 2021, revealed some 364 active family physicians are in the city, and said Hamilton competes with other communities across the province for “a very limited pool” of family medicine candidates.
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The city’s target is to have one physician for every 1,380 residents.
Since 2009, Glanbrook has been the most problematic region, with the ward “doubling in size without a corresponding increase in the number of family physicians.”
A lack of suitable family practice space and no family health organizations creating “a team care setting” were at the root of Glanbrook’s recruitment issues, according to the city.
Burnout due to COVID-19, increased on-call requirements in a new physician agreement, and a number of family physicians nearing retirement were some overall retention issues across Hamilton.
Younger candidates wanting a better work-life balance was also a significant deterrent.
“As younger candidates are often seeking greater work-life balance in group settings, succession planning for these retiring physicians will require creative solutions,” medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said during the report’s presentation in September.
The change to the GHHN hopes to address challenges with the previous program by increasing clarity on accountability and operational oversight to reduce operational and reporting inefficiencies.
The GHHN will report on key performance indicators annually to Hamilton’s Board of Health.
Zacharias says the OMA’s part is working the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, as well as all levels of government “to decrease barriers” holding up some candidates.
“Long term, we need more medical student spots,” She said.
“More residency training programs to really have a long-term stable strategy for equipping our health care system better.”
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