'It's been a nightmare': Residents describe search for family doctor in Ottawa

Many in Ottawa say the search for a family doctor is "infuriating."

Alexandra Zannis is one of the 2.3 million Ontarians who don't have access to a family physician. She has been looking for six years.

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

"It's been a nightmare," she says. "I have been the provincial list, Health Care Connect, for about five years. I have heard nothing other than the fact that the waitlist is continuing to keep people on. I call out to physicians' clinics to see if they are taking people; the most recent one was a six-year waitlist and they didn't even open the waitlist anymore. Most just don't get back to me."

She says she know many people who are in similar situations. "I don't have a family doctor, which is upsetting to me because there is no continuity of care. You just go to different walk-in clinics and, heaven forbid, the emergency (department)."

With no one to see, Zannis says many people end up in emergency departments or crowded walk-in clinics. "You will wait six to seven hours on a good day at a walk-in. It's a different doctor every time and you have to be there 45 minutes before registration even opens. Same with urgent care; I think it is a crisis," says Zannis.

On Monday, the Ontario Medical Association said the family doctor shortage is impacting every region in the province and it is expected to get worse.

In Ottawa alone, the city is short 171 doctors. Toronto is short 305.

Dr. Andrew Park is president of the OMA and says the shortage is across all practices.

"That would be a mixture of family doctors, but also all sorts of specialists — whether that's surgeons, orthopaedics, psychiatry, paediatrics — it runs a full gambit. Now, the largest proportion of that will be family medicine."

Dr Park says, "This is why it is important for people in your community to understand these numbers. These number imply that for these 2.3 million Ontarians, they are more likely to have later diagnosis, chronic disease, increased potential in hospitalization, and frankly to die sooner. Their outcomes will be worse than those who have a family doctor."

Park says in the next few years, 1 in 5 Ontarians could not have access to a family doctor.

Doug Thompson says for the first time three decades he won't have a family doctor, after his physician is retiring. Thompson says there is no one to replace the practice.

"He has been my doctor for 30 years and he is retiring the first of July this year, so unfortunately I am going to be without a doctor," says Thompson.

Thompson is a former city councillor and says he has been calling clinics across the region with no luck. "I have been contacting all local clinics. Now I am up to about 15 different clinics, as far away as Cornwall, looking for a family doctor. There is no luck there."

Thompson says he has even called clinics in Arnprior and Renfrew. "A lot of them have right on their (voice) message, 'if you are calling about new patients, we are not accepting new patients,' so you just hang up and keep trying.

"What is really devastating is that there are 2,500 people, or more, who are going to be without a doctor, and from what I see, they are going to be out of luck. They are going to be going to emergency rooms, or just waiting for medical assistance. It is very frustrating. Until it hits home, it doesn't impact you mentally, but it is a bit scary. You rely on your family doctor to help you out. For me, personally, it is devastating."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones said that the provincial government has added more than 10,400 new doctors since 2018.

"While Ontario is leading the country with 90 per cent of Ontarians having a primary care provider, we understand that a key part of our Your Health plan is to ensure all Ontarians who want access to primary care are able to," the statement said.

The statement also said the government has also expanded medical school access by adding hundreds of undergraduate and medical seats with 60 per cent of seats reserved for family medicine.