Ontario is striving to ensure that every resident in the province has a primary care provider, yet family health teams are cautioning that the foundation of primary care is deteriorating while the government pursues this commendable objective.
Family health teams encompass not only physicians but also a range of other healthcare professionals, such as nurses, social workers, and dietitians, to deliver comprehensive care. According to the family health teams, government funding for these professionals has not kept up with inflation or with the salaries they could earn in other healthcare settings.
The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario notes that nurse practitioners could earn an additional $20,000 or more annually by working in a hospital, while physician assistants could make an extra $30,000. The association’s CEO, Jess Rogers, emphasized in an interview the importance of stabilizing the current workforce and capital space to sustain the attachment of more Ontarians to primary care, rather than just meeting attachment targets.
Despite a 2.7% compensation increase received by family health teams last year, following several years of stagnant wages, the association argues that more substantial raises are necessary to attract and retain professionals effectively. Various family health teams and their association have presented proposals to a legislative pre-budget committee, seeking $430 million over five years to address what they describe as a structural wage gap, in addition to the release of $115 million in already allocated workforce funding.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones highlighted that the province is heavily investing in family health teams, with over $600 million allocated this year. The province aims to connect all residents with a primary care provider by 2029 through the $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan, making Ontario the first Canadian jurisdiction to establish a framework for a publicly funded primary care system.
Meghan Peters, the executive director of a family health team in Sudbury, expressed concerns about staff taking on secondary jobs to make ends meet, as they could potentially earn significantly higher salaries in other healthcare sectors. She emphasized the detrimental impact of skilled professionals leaving primary care on essential services, programs, and patient care, urging for measures to retain healthcare professionals to maintain the quality of care.
Recruitment and retention challenges are particularly pronounced in northern and rural Ontario, affecting family health teams as well. Shannon Kristjanson, executive director of the Greenstone Family Health Team, highlighted the difficulty in recruiting nurse practitioners in the north due to significant pay discrepancies compared to hospital positions, creating obstacles in filling healthcare roles in these regions.
