What is being billed as the most comprehensive survey of family doctors ever conducted in Canada reveals a physician workforce that is stretched to the limit, if not beyond.
Results from the 2001 National Family Physician Workforce Survey, conducted this spring by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), were released Oct. 25 during the college's annual meeting in Vancouver.
At a well-attended news conference, CFPC leaders stressed the main points of the mail-in poll, which was sent to all family doctors in Canada and attracted 14 319 responses (51.2%).
The survey reveals that:
· family physicians see an average of 124 patients a week during regularly scheduled clinical activity;
· family physicians spend an average of 53 hours a week on professional activities, not including on-call time;
· almost three-quarters provide some type of on-call services;
· only 30.2% are accepting new patients without restrictions;
· 67% report that there are moderate to severe problems accessing medical care in their communities, up 15% from a similar survey done in 1997;
· one-third have reduced their scope of practice in the past 2 years or plan to do so in the next 2 years.
Dr. Cal Gutkin, the college's executive director, said the survey findings show that the situation “has gone from bad to worse” for both family doctors and the health care system in general.
“The bottom line is there are not enough family physicians to meet patient needs,” said CFPC President Donald Gelhorn, a family physician in Hudson Bay, Sask.
The incoming president, Dr. Dominique Tessier of Montreal, estimated that an additional 3000 family physicians are needed to meet current needs and that unless the shortfall is addressed this number will double over the next 10 years.
In an interview, Dr. Nick Busing, chair of the survey steering committee, said he was not surprised by the findings. “None of the areas we are concerned about are getting any better,” he said, referring specifically to the increase in the number of family doctors expressing concern about patient access to appropriate services and to the increasing number of hours family doctors are working.