Thank you for inviting us to speak on behalf of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and our more than 42,000 members. I'll be presenting in English. We will be pleased to respond to questions in both official languages.
My name is Francine Lemire. I'm a family physician and executive director and CEO of the CFPC. I am joined today by our president, Dr. Brady Bouchard, a family physician practising in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
A thriving health workforce is critical in ensuring that Canadians have timely and convenient access to primary care. We'd like to describe the changes that are necessary to ensure that our health workforce can meet the evolving needs of Canadian communities.
There are 4.6 million people in Canada who do not have a regular family physician, and many cannot access the care they need when they need it. COVID-19 has accentuated and exposed existing gaps in care, particularly for vulnerable populations, such as seniors, indigenous populations and those suffering from addictions and mental health issues. Providing care during the pandemic has been challenging. Family doctors quickly pivoted to using virtual care while providing excellent in-person care when required.
The unique foundational value of family physicians is in providing comprehensive care to patients and families across the ages, including preventative care over time in a variety of settings. The evidence is solid: Countries with robust primary care featuring family doctor leadership have better population outcomes. However, in COVID's wake we're concerned about reports of family physicians and other providers feeling burnt out, retiring early, significantly reducing their clinical commitments or leaving the profession altogether.
Every Canadian should have access to quality care close to home in a family practice. Better access is possible if family doctors and their teams spend less time on the things that aren't direct patient care, such as general paperwork and clinic administration; if more family doctors are available, particularly as Canada consistently lags behind other OECD countries in physician numbers; and if family doctors working in teams are more available to their patients and a wider array of services are available through the team. Addressing each of those areas will retain the workforce, maintain well-being and ultimately improve access.
What can we do? The government's commitment to increase the family physician supply is commendable, but doing so will take time. In the short term, we must ease the burden on the frontline family physicians.
First, establish a time-limited fund to incentivize the retention of family physicians and other primary health care providers who are considering leaving the workforce postpandemic or are already on their way out. Second, provide administrative support to primary health care teams through dedicated funding and streamlined administrative processes, creating more time and capacity for direct patient care. A recent survey of our members ranked administrative support as the top requirement to enhance access.
Looking further ahead, we need to consider several systemic issues to make our workforce supply and distribution more resilient, equitable and adaptable. We welcome recent announcements to increase family medicine capacity in some medical schools. There must be consistent, deliberate action to increase supply and enhance capacity with a focus on under-serviced settings and populations.
Now more than ever, we need a robust provincial and national data strategy. Numbers are not enough. We must understand and take into account what providers do—their scope of practice and their career trajectories. We must sustain and expand practice environments that are good for patients and providers. The CFPC promotes the concept of the “patient medical home”, a vision of care that is collaborative, team-based, patient-centred, and strongly connected to the community and health care system as a whole. Further progress on expanding this type of care must be supported through a dedicated primary care transition fund that we've been advocating for in partnership with the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Nurses Association.
There's a general sense of lack of appreciation and support among family physicians, who are feeling burnt out and overburdened. Our members continue to serve as a foundation of Canada's health care system and trusted partners to their patients.
It is critical that family doctors and other health professionals get the support they need, both in acknowledging their contributions and through dedicated support from all levels of government.
Thank you.