Thousands of Canadians are on doctor wait-lists. Are they effective?
In Ontario, the average wait time for the thousands of prospective patients on the province’s list looking to be connected to a family doctor is, according to the government, around 90 days.
But that, of course, is the average. And depending where one may reside in the province, the wait time can be significantly longer.
“In some places, we have patients who’ve been on the list for years,” says Dr. Mike Green, president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and a Kingston, Ont.-based doctor.
According to a recent survey, around six million Canadians are without a family doctor. But some provinces, to help facilitate a match, have created centralized waiting lists where people can register and eventually be matched with physicians who are taking new patients.
However, despite the benefits for patients, he said, at least in Ontario, only a relatively small number of the unattached patients in Ontario use them. About 200,000 are registered on HCC. But more than two million Ontarians are without a doctor, according to the Ontario Community Health Profiles Partnership, a website that publishes data on health-related services to meet community needs.
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