IS THE DOCTOR IN?

June Porter has heard all of the stories of the struggles to find a family physician.

Porter is the chairperson of the joint physician recruitment and retention committee, an advisory committee of the Town of The Blue Mountains that also involved representatives from Clearview Township, Collingwood, and Grey Highlands.

As part of that work, the committee conducted a survey that received nearly 300 comments from area residents.

Some, said Porter, had moved to the area but had kept their family doctor — usually requiring a lengthy drive for an appointment. Others were concerned about the impending retirement of their family physician, while others without a doctor were utilizing other services such as after-hours clinics and hospital emergency departments.

With the province in the midst

of a general election campaign, Porter wants to see discussion on the investment that's needed to ensure residents in the region have access to a family physician.

That includes family health teams, similar to one recently approved under Ontario's Family Health Organization program in Owen Sound. It includes family physicians in The Blue Mountains and Flesherton.

"That's excellent news because when local physicians belong to a family health team, it is a positive when it comes to recruiting physicians," she said.

The Ontario College of Family Physicians is also advocating for the development of the family health team model as part of a three-prong approach to alleviate the burden on the province's family physicians.

Collingwood family doctor Jennifer Young said only about 25 per cent of Ontario's population is served by a family doctor who is part of a family health team.

The college says the creation of team-based care would provide patients and family physicians with access to resources such as social workers, nurses, and administrative staff.

The college also has recommendations to reduce the administrative burden on family doctors, and is encouraging the province to develop a "robust" health human resources plan to recruit more family physicians to all regions in the province, including simplifying the process for foreign-trained doctors to begin practising.

Young said there has been a "gradual increase" in administrative work for family physicians, including the data on patients needed by hospitals and the specialists to whom family doctors refer their patients.

It's estimated by the college that administrative work takes up about 25 per cent of a doctor's time.

According to Porter's white paper, the number of residents not rostered to a family physician within the southern Georgian Bay region could be more than 10,000. That doesn't include a number of residents who have a family doctor, but need to travel between one and two hours for an appointment.

And that number is growing, thanks to the growth in the communities that make up the south Georgian Bay area.

"Our reality is not as dire as some places, but it is getting to be that way," Young said.

Young related the story of a woman she was taking care of in hospital whom she agreed to take on as a patient.

"She said to me afterwards, 'I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking me on as a patient. I now feel like a real person'," Young said. "I find that a really profound statement for somebody with the insecurities of chronic disease, to be living in a place where they don't know where to turn.

"I can't imagine it. I can't imagine my mother being in that situation," she said. "If I was to open my practice to (everybody), I'd have to close it the next day because I couldn't be available for the people on my roster if I took on everybody who was looking for a family doctor."