Q&A: As more Ontario family doctors near retirement, new ones are needed to care for aging patients

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 22, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 22

A caller survey shows a troubling displacement successful Ontario's household doc workforce. Published successful the diary Canadian Family Physician, the probe shows much than 1.7 cardinal Ontarians are seeing household physicians who are aged 65 oregon older, and galore of those patients are aged themselves requiring much analyzable care.

The survey besides confirms that arsenic household doctors adjacent status successful this province, determination aren't capable new physicians to regenerate them. While it paints a grim representation of household care, it besides recognizes there are possible solutions present that the world is amended understood.

Dr. Kamila Premji is the pb writer of the nonfiction Trends colliding: Aging broad household physicians and the increasing complexity of their patients. She joined CBC's London Morning big Andrew Brown to speech astir the survey and however we tin hole for the aboriginal of household medicine.

The pursuing has been edited to magnitude and clarity.

Andrew Brown: What were you looking astatine successful this study?

Dr. Kamila Premji: Our survey looked astatine trends successful Ontario's broad household doc workforce betwixt 2008 and 2022. When I accidental "comprehensive household physicians," I mean that cradle-to-grave, longitudinal attraction that you typically deliberation of erstwhile you deliberation of a household doctor.

What we recovered is that our workforce is aging. Older household physicians are making up an expanding stock of that workforce, and correspondingly, we person an expanding fig and proportionality of patients whose household physicians are poised to retire.

As you mentioned, 1.74 cardinal patients person a household doc who's already aged 65 oregon older. We besides saw that aging household physicians look to beryllium hanging connected longer than expected; 7.2 per cent are present property 70 and older, up from 6.4 per cent in 2019, and they're looking aft implicit 700,000 patients.

AB: Are these doctors hanging astir due to the fact that they consciousness similar they person to?

KP: There's immoderate anecdotal grounds astir that. There person been media reports astir household physicians who are trying to discontinue but cannot find idiosyncratic to instrumentality implicit their practice. So they're hanging connected a spot longer to spot if they tin get idiosyncratic successful to instrumentality implicit their roster. But it's difficult, particularly when, according to different of our findings, determination aren't precise galore early-career household physicians entering the field — or surely not enough.

AB: When our household doctors get older, what are the implications? What does that mean for the system?

KP: What's interesting, and possibly it shouldn't beryllium surprising, is that their patients property with them. So they're besides looking aft older, much analyzable patients. We saw successful our information that near-retirement-age household physicians attraction for a disproportionate fig and percent of the astir complex, older patients compared to the remainder of the workforce. As they get older, their ain practices go much complex.

That means we mightiness really request much than 1 doc to instrumentality implicit an aging, analyzable practice.

As radical age, they make much analyzable aesculapian problems. They necessitate much tests, much treatments, much specialists progressive successful their care, and the household doc is coordinating each of that. So the workload increases.

LISTEN | Dr. Kamila Premji talks astir her caller probe connected household medicine connected London Morning:

AB: When it comes to replacing our older doctors with young ones, however are we doing there?

KP: Data shows signs that the remainder of the workforce whitethorn not beryllium capable to sorb the patients of these near-retirement physicians. Since 2019, for the archetypal time, maturation successful the wide workforce has stagnated. That doesn't mean we're not adding caller household doctors, we are, but less of them are going into that cradle-to-grave, broad household medicine field.

And for the archetypal clip successful our study, we saw that the fig and proportionality of younger broad household physicians, those nether 35, has declined. Overall, determination are less household physicians who are trained successful household medicine really practising it. That's happening crossed astir vocation stages, not conscionable among younger physicians, but besides mid-career ones who are leaving broad household medicine for different types of work.

AB: How concerning is each of this to you?

KP: It's rather concerning. I deliberation it indicates that we request to look astatine what the workforce needs successful bid to enactment it and grow its capableness to sorb the patients of these near-retirement physicians. That means we request to look astatine some recruitment and retention.

We request to enlistee much household physicians into the system, those finishing aesculapian schoolhouse and choosing a residency, and those finishing a household medicine residency and deciding what benignant of signifier they want. It besides means retaining, oregon adjacent drafting back, household physicians astatine the mid-career signifier who person near household medicine oregon don't privation to signifier that afloat scope anymore. We request to enactment them to travel backmost oregon proceed successful that benignant of work.

AB: Right now, we are abbreviated a batch of household doctors successful this province, right?

KP: Exactly. We cognize from our information that astir 2.5 cardinal Ontarians are already without a household physician. And erstwhile we look astatine our information connected the near-retirement workforce and the remaining capacity, it looks similar that's going to get worse successful the coming years. We indispensable instrumentality immoderate solutions fast.

AB: Do you spot thing to beryllium hopeful about?

KP: I deliberation household medicine is simply a truly absorbing and appealing specialty, but we don't bash a precise bully occupation of promoting it. The variety, the complexity, it makes it interesting. The semipermanent relationships you make are unsocial to this tract of medicine, and I deliberation we tin beryllium doing a amended occupation of promoting that to incoming physicians.

We besides request to enactment the workforce, and determination are solutions underway. Some that person worked successful different jurisdictions see compensating household physicians for enactment they're doing extracurricular of nonstop face-to-face care, which has increased. British Columbia conscionable implemented a strategy similar that, and they've drawn radical backmost into broad household medicine.

Team-based attraction is different solution, giving household physicians backing to prosecute enactment unit similar nurses, caregiver practitioners, admin assistants, societal workers, pharmacists and nutritionists. All of that would assistance enactment their work, summation capacity and trim burnout.

Dr. Kamila Premji is simply a household doctor, a chap astatine the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, an adjunct prof astatine the University of Ottawa, and a PhD campaigner successful household medicine astatine the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry astatine Western University.