Author : Cathy Risdon , Professor and Chair , Family Medicine , McMaster , McMaster University

This article was published in The Conversation in October 2023 : https :// theconversation . com / the-impact-of-not-having-a-family-doctor-patients-are-worse-off-and-so-is-the-health-system-214937

Global Health Asia-Pacific is republishing it under Creative Commons licence .

If we can fix the shortage of family physicians , we can save lives and money at the same time .

It ’ s a problem that puts their health at greater risk and renders the entire public healthcare system less e�cient than it could be , both economically and in terms of the quality of care for everyone .

In other words , if we can fix the shortage of family physicians , we can save lives and money at the same time .

Shortage of family physicians Many factors are contributing to our current shortage .

For one , Canada�s health system needs not only more family doctors , but also more nurses and other health-care professionals . However , it lacks the capacity to collect and analyze data that ’ s required for integrated and proactive health human-resource

planning .

The increasing complexity and responsibility of family medicine , including a much greater administrative burden , has also made careers in family medicine less attractive . In 201� , �� per cent of graduating medical students chose a career in family medicine . By 2022 , that number had dropped to �0 per cent .

We are also losing practising family physicians . The rate of retirement increased through the pandemic . ( Many doctors lost income during shutdowns but were still responsible for lease and staff costs .) The current family medicine workforce is also aging : Nearly one in six family doctors in Canada is 65 or older and nearing retirement .

Family doctors and health care Research has shown that patients who have a regular

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