{"id":871,"date":"2020-12-11T01:32:25","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T01:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/?p=871"},"modified":"2020-12-13T23:28:36","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T23:28:36","slug":"in-ottawa-a-long-wait-for-a-family-doctor-brings-extra-hurdles-in-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/2020\/12\/11\/in-ottawa-a-long-wait-for-a-family-doctor-brings-extra-hurdles-in-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"In Ottawa, a long wait for a family doctor brings extra hurdles in pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without a family physician, you either have to seek care at a walk-in clinic or the emergency department. (Photo by\u00a0Rebecca dePencier)<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;||0px|||&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OTTAWA &#8212; Sebastien Plante started looking for a doctor before he graduated from Carleton University.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFour years later, they still hadn\u2019t found me anything,\u201d he said.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plante has multiple chronic illnesses and needs blood work done regularly. Someone recommended that he register for Health Care Connect, a program meant to connect Ontario residents who don\u2019t have a primary care physician with a family doctor or nurse practitioner who is accepting new patients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demand for that program has skyrocketed over the past four years. The number of patients on the waiting list for a referral in the Ottawa region has quadrupled since 2017, according to data obtained by the provincial ministry of health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were 6,000 people on the list four years ago. Now, there are nearly 26,000<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plante, like many in the city, relies on his local walk-in clinic for care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019ve been going there for my blood work and whatnot to make sure that I don\u2019t die,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_code _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/4544627\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demand for family doctor referrals through Health Care Connect has risen by 331 per cent since 2017.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A long search for a family doctor is not unusual in the capital region, said Dr. Andrew Stewart, who started his practice here three years ago.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy schedule filled up very quickly with people looking for a doctor,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cA lot of people told me that they had been waiting upwards of two years to find a family physician.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stewart has concerns about patients who rely on care from walk-in clinics, particularly during the pandemic. He said his patients have had three years to get to know him and build trust. They\u2019re more likely to reach out when they need him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s hard to emotionally open up to a walk-in doctor who you don\u2019t know,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cI\u2019m not saying it doesn&#8217;t happen. I\u2019m sure walk-in physicians also deal with a lot of mental health issues. But it\u2019s probably not as easy for people to share their stresses and seek out the treatments that they might need in a particularly stressful time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem is not just limited to Plante. Community Facebook groups and the Ottawa Reddit page are rife with people searching for a family doctor. There is even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/davidandmarie.com\/ottawa-guide\/find-a-doctor\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a realtor website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that warns newcomers to the city that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it can sometimes be a challenge to find doctors taking new patients in Ottawa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite many people speaking openly about the difficulty, data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information does not reflect the problem. The Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which represents Ottawa and the surrounding area, has had the second or third highest ratio of family doctors to population for 15 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_code _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-bar-chart-race\" data-src=\"visualisation\/4469661\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><em>Family Physician to 100,000 population ratio<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the reasons the numbers may not reflect the struggle many are facing is because traditional methods of measuring the physician workforce may not be as effective as they once were.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOne has to go beyond just the pure numbers,\u201d said <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Douglas Angus, a retired health policy and economics professor at the University of Ottawa&#8217;s Telfer School of Management. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen you take a look at the quantity of positions available, it looks pretty good. So the puzzle then becomes why are people having difficulty getting access to a family physician?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;1_2,1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;-24px|||||&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;0px|||||&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal three years ago found that just over two-thirds of the family doctors registered in Ontario were providing comprehensive care in 2014 and 2015.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The others were either not working full time, or not offering the range of services the study identified as representing comprehensive care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Angus said this issue is very much at play in Ottawa, and across the country. Family doctors want a better work-life balance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPhysicians are just not going to work the kind of hours that they did previously,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re probably not going to be accepting as many patients as might have been the situation, as say, a decade ago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_image src=&#8221;https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dePencierFeaturePhoto2-scaled.jpg&#8221; title_text=&#8221;dePencierFeaturePhoto2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;28px|||||&#8221;][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><em>More and more people in Ottawa are using walk-in clinics like the one at the Rosemount Branch of the Somerset West Community Health Centre as a replacement for a family physician. (Photo by Rebecca dePencier)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A similar issue was recently<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ola.org\/en\/legislative-business\/house-documents\/parliament-42\/session-1\/2020-11-19\/hansard-1\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">raised in Parliament by MPP Ian Arthur<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> regarding the city of Kingston. The province designated the municipality as a \u201cnon-high needs community\u201d despite recent data collected by the city that suggests 23 per cent of its residents do not have a primary care practitioner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;2_5,3_5&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;19px|||||&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_5&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;-12px|||||&#8221;]<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>23 per cent of Kingston&#8217;s residents do not have a primary care practitioner<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;3_5&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Kingston hosts what might seem to be an adequate number of physicians for our population,\u201d Arthur said in November. \u201cA disproportionate number do not actually practise comprehensive medical care.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span>Arthur said that in a study of 312 Kingston family physicians, 173 did not practise family medicine in the community. Those doctors were engaged in different varieties of practice, such as teaching, research, student health, or subspecialties of family medicine such as long-term care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But there is hope. Plante recently made a list of all the family doctors within walking distance of his apartment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnd as it happened, the very first place I called said that they were taking new patients,\u201d he said. \u201cThey took my name and my health card number. And immediately, they were like \u2018Okay, you&#8217;re a patient.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After four long years, Plante\u2019s search for a doctor is over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without a family physician, you either have to seek care at a walk-in clinic or the emergency department. (Photo by\u00a0Rebecca dePencier)OTTAWA &#8212; Sebastien Plante started looking for a doctor before he graduated from Carleton University.\u00a0 \u201cFour years later, they still hadn\u2019t found me anything,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Plante has multiple chronic illnesses and needs blood work [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"<!-- wp:divi\/placeholder \/-->","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1122,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions\/1122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/noveltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}