670,000 Ontarians Have to Travel Over 50 Km to See Family Doctor, While 2.5 Million Have None: Study

Ontario’s health-care crisis is worsening, as the number of residents without a family doctor grows significantly while hundreds of thousands are forced to travel long distances to receive care. A study by Upstream Lab at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital shows an estimated 670,000 Ontarians living at least 51 kilometres from their family doctor. Within that group, more than 130,000 live more than 200 kilometres away, equivalent to the distance between Toronto and places such as Parry Sound, Belleville, or London. “It’s too far and it’s impacting how Ontarians receive care because they are not seeing their family doctor—or any family doctor—as often as patients who live closer,” Dr. Archna Gupta, a Toronto family physician and the study’s principal researcher, said in a July 11 press release from the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP)....