New Keystone Paper: The Role & Value of Family Physicians in Ontario
Dear SGFP Members,
Today I am sharing this MUST-READ PAPER FOR ALL FAMILY DOCTORS AND POLICY MAKERS: The Role & Value of Family Physicians in Ontario: The Keystone of Primary Health Care.
Everyone says that family medicine is the foundation of the healthcare system, and now we have a foundational, scholarly, researched paper to support this fact. This comprehensive, made-in-Ontario paper backs up what family doctors already know: we are the keystone of Ontario’s healthcare system, and it’s time our contributions are fully recognized. Whenever we need to advocate for our profession, we now have this paper as a powerful reference.
In late 2024, the SGFP Executive had a passionate and pivotal discussion about the need to further amplify our advocacy for family physicians. From that conversation came this advocacy paper. We have also created a one-page summary of the main advocacy points to support engagement efforts.
This paper is a firm call to policymakers, healthcare leaders, and stakeholders to recognize family physicians not simply as generic “primary care providers,” but as highly trained medical experts whose contributions are vital to the health system’s sustainability and success.
Family physicians provide expert, comprehensive, and continuous care that no other medical specialty or healthcare provider can replace. Yet, despite our critical role, family physicians are facing unprecedented challenges: growing patient complexity, excessive administrative burdens, inadequate compensation, and a troubling decline in physicians choosing comprehensive family practice. These issues threaten not only our profession but the very foundation of accessible, high-quality healthcare in Ontario. We demand:
- Fair remuneration that reflects our expertise and workload
- Meaningful engagement in health system reforms
- Strong supports to adapt to evolving patient needs and digital health advancements
We urge you to read the paper and share it widely—with colleagues, policymakers, and anyone invested in the future of Ontario’s healthcare system. Your voice is crucial. Together, we must advocate for the respect and resources our profession deserves to keep family medicine strong and primary care effective for all Ontarians.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment and dedication to our profession and to the citizens of Ontario.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Dave Barber
Chair, SGFP
Other Resources
Seasonal Vaccines Survey
Challenges with the ordering process for vaccines, particularly seasonal vaccines, have been received by the OMA. Given that these vaccines are accessible through other channels, some family physicians have expressed less interest in administering them. The OMA would like to hear from you to better understand perspectives on this issue and support effective advocacy through this short survey. Completing the survey will take between 3 to 5 minutes. Please note you will have to fully complete the survey in one sitting. Please click on the following link or copy and paste the full URL below into your web browser:
https://insights.oma.org/c/r/Seasonal_Vaccine_Survey
Resource Sharing
If you have information about a news item, policy, survey or event you wish to share with SGFP members, please review the criteria and provide the following required information for us to include in this section of the newsletter. Please send this submission to: ChairLetterSGFP@outlook.com