The Facts about Canada's Doctor Shortage

There simply aren't enough people to provide the quality of health care that Canadians expect and deserve.

Here are some more alarming facts that should concern us all:

• Between 4 and 5 million Canadians do not have a family physician.
• 13.4% of Canada's population is 65 or older. Within the next year, 300,000 people in Canada will turn 65—the highest annual level on record.
• Patients have increasingly complex and chronic conditions that can be expected in an aging population. This means each patient requires more time/services to address his or her health needs.
• The average physician today is spending more time on paperwork and less with patients than she or he did 20 years ago.
• The public is well informed and has high expectations of the services and tests they feel they are entitled to receive, especially with respect to quality of life in later years.
• The average age of Canada's physicians is 50.
• Shortages are not limited to rural areas; urban centres are experiencing widespread shortages, especially centres that absorb large numbers of new immigrants each year.
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average number of physicians per 1000 population is 36% higher than Canada's. To match the OECD ratio, Canada would need 26,000 more physicians.
• If we want 95% of the population to be covered, we need to provide family physicians for an additional 3.3 million Canadians.
• Population growth is going to result in an extra 1.3 million people by 2012.
• By 2012 we will need to increase the number of family physicians to cover a total of 4.6 million more Canadians (includes the current 3.3 million without a family physician). This will take about 5,200 more family physicians.
• Today we have 32,708 family physicians, and we project we will have 36,357 by 2012 (based on current input/output).
• However, we believe we will need more than 37,908 family physicians by 2012. The shortfall between what we will have and what we will need is 1,551 family physicians.