What happened to primary care!?

Asarial,

According to a new report from the Ontario College of Family Physicians, 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have access to a family doctor. It’s a staggering number — and a confirmation of the dire straits of healthcare in Ontario.

Without access to a family doctor, more and more Ontarians are missing out on regular check-ups and cancer screenings. And when issues do arise, patients are left with no choice but to visit the emergency room — putting even more strain on an already overburdened healthcare system.

It’s finally time for Doug Ford to put Ontarians’ healthcare needs first. If thousands of us flood his and Health Minister Sylvia Jones’ inbox, we could force them to take action to expand primary care in the province.

Asarial, will you write to Premier Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones now, demanding that they deliver primary healthcare to the 2.5 million Ontarians currently living without?

Years of underfunding and privatization under Doug Ford’s leadership have pushed Ontario’s healthcare system to the brink. And according to the Ontario College of Family Physicians’ report, things are only getting worse.

In the past six months alone, over 160,000 Ontarians have lost access to primary care — a number that’s projected to rise in every part of the province. And for those lucky enough to have one, 670,000 Ontarians need to travel more than 50 kilometres to see their family doctor.

The provincial government has slowly begun to invest in primary care teams. But these new figures show that it has been too little, too late. To meet the scale of the problem, we need to see more of the $3.1 billion in federal funding being used right now to get Ontarians access to primary healthcare providers.

Universal healthcare is part of what makes Canada the country it is – the idea that no matter where you live or what you earn, you should always be able to get the care you need. And it’s why we won’t accept Doug Ford’s attempts to privatize or erode our essential services.

Asarial, will you take two minutes now and write to Doug Ford and Sylvia Jones and demand that they take urgent measures to restore primary care to millions of Ontario residents?

With determination,
Cheryl and Kate for Leadnow

Sources
CBC – Number of Ontarians without family doctor reaches 2.5 million, college says
CBC – Want more family doctors in Ontario? Pay them better, say physicians
CBC – Family doctor shortage affects every region and is getting worse, Ontario Medical Association says
CBC – Ford, Trudeau sign $3.1B health-care funding deal that will see Ontario hire more health workers
CBC – Ontario to add 400 new primary care providers to deal with staffing shortage