KINGSTON – Marit Stiles, Leader of Ontario’s Official Opposition, is calling on the government to hire more administrative and interdisciplinary health staff to take the burden of paperwork off doctors so they can spend more time providing care to patients.
“The serious doctor shortage affecting Ontario is being felt acutely here in Kingston,” said Stiles. “People are feeling desperate for care, and they’re feeling worried that they might not get help when they need it. No one should be put in such a precarious position.”
According to the Ontario Medical Association, doctors spend as much as 19 hours a week—40 percent of their time—following up with patients, filling out forms and performing other administrative work that could be done by administrative staff, and other interdisciplinary health staff.
“Right now, 2 million people in Ontario are without a family doctor. This not only puts their health at risk, but it’s also putting tremendous strain on our already-overburdened emergency rooms. This is a smart, simple solution to fix the massive patient backlog and get people the care they need.
“We can free up doctors’ time by getting them access to an integrated primary care team, and this would be equivalent to adding 2,000 doctors to the system.”
The supply gap of doctors is so huge that almost 30,000 people in Kingston don’t have access to a physician, and there is only one other walk-in clinic in the downtown area. When four physicians at the CDK Family Medicine and Walk-In Clinic announced they would take on 4,000 new patients, hundreds of people lined up overnight to claim a spot.
Stiles and the NDP will force a vote on this solution in the legislature Monday.