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Like trying to fill a bathtub while the stopper’s pulled out — that’s how an official charged with bringing family doctors to Kingston, Ont., described the challenge of keeping up with retirements.
That’s also a big part of why the city failed to meet its goal of connecting every patient with a primary care provider by the end of 2025, according to Craig Desjardins, Kingston’s director of strategy, innovation and partnerships.
Last April, Desjardins said he believed that was a “realistic target,” but last month he acknowledged 5,000 people are still seeking a family physician.
It’s a big improvement from the roughly 30,000 on the waitlist just a few years ago, when hundreds of residents spent hours lining up outside in hopes of securing a health-care provider. But Desjardins said the progress has been slower than he’d hoped.
He pointed to three main factors:
Kingston’s population has grown by more than two per cent each year, with many newcomers looking for a local doctor.The Midtown Clinic, a “health home” funded by the province over two years ago, is still in the process of rostering its final 2,000 patients.A wave of retirements as an aging generation of physicians end their careers.
Kingston has managed to recruit 36 doctors over the past three years, but 13 others have stopped working, and Desjardins said that trend seems to be accelerating.
“In Kingston, one in six family doctors will be retiring within the next five years,” he said. “Within Ontario, it’s even more.”
Still waiting 3 years later
Mike and Yvonne Christie saw the same doctor for more than 35 years, before losing him as part of the mass retirement of a local family health team in 2023.
The couple immediately added their names to Health Care Connect (HCC), the province’s centralized waitlist, but nearly three years later they’re still waiting.
Mike Christie said his wife has had to go to walk-in clinics or urgent care to have her prescriptions filled, and he’s found himself second-guessing if he really needs care.
Kingston, Ont., resident Mike Christie has been without a family doctor for nearly three years after his physician retired from a local clinic. (Dan Taekema/CBC)
“It makes you kind of delay getting things looked at, because you just don’t have the convenience of picking up the phone and calling the doctor,” explained the 59-year-old.
“[We’re] not picky, just somebody that we can rely on to call if we need something.”
Christie said he’s been actively trying to find a replacement, asking friends and family members if their doctors are taking on new patients, but so far he’s had no luck.
He’d heard of the city’s hope to match everyone with a doctor by the end of last year, but didn’t pay much attention to it, trusting the waitlist and believing his turn would come.
Hearing that he’s among roughly 5,000 others on the waitlist, however, Christie said it seems there’s still a long way to go, though he believes the city is doing what it can.
A ‘marathon that doesn’t end’
Desjardins said it’s “heartbreaking” to hear from those who are struggling without a family physician, adding he shares their frustration.
Kingston has spent close to $4 million on doctor recruitment so far, and he said staff work hard to sell the community by connecting incoming physicians with daycare, hockey leagues — and health-care options of their own.
“Finding those family physicians their own doctor, believe it or not, it’s a challenge,” Desjardins said.
Craig Desjardins heads up doctor recruitment for the City of Kingston. He says the city is still within striking distance of clearing its doctor waitlist. (Submitted by Providence Care)
Ontario’s Ministry of Health launched a $2-billion primary care action plan and has cleared more than 75 per cent of the HCC waitlist, according to a statement from spokesperson Ema Popovic.
Provincial investment has helped connect thousands in Kingston with care and opened up new positions for those studying family medicine at Queen’s University, she added in statement sent by email.
Desjardins said connecting everyone in Kingston with a doctor by the end of last year was always an “ambitious goal,” but the city is within striking distance.
Three new physicians were recruited around Christmas and are set to start their practices soon, and the Midtown Clinic is expected to hit its full capacity of 8,000 later this year. Desjardins said those developments should free up space for thousands more patients.
The plan now is to clear the waitlist by early May, but Desjardins stopped short of pinpointing another target.
“Predictions is a dangerous game. I’m not a gambler,” he said. “It’s a marathon that doesn’t seem to end.”