NDP health critic skeptical that Dr. Jane Philpott can solve Ontario's 'health-care crisis'

The Ontario NDP's health critic says she does not expect major improvements to the province's health care system undera new health team led by Dr. Jane Philpott.

The Ford government appointed Philpott, the former federal health minister and now the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen's University, to lead a new primary care team seeking improvements in healthcare for Ontario.

The team's goal is to connect every person in the province to a primary care provider within the next five years.

The Ontario Medical Association says there are currently more than 2.5 million Ontarians who don't have a family doctor.

"Ontario can build a health system where the guarantee of access to a primary care team is as automatic as the assurance that every child will be assigned to a public school in their neighbourhood," Philpott said in a news release.

"Our goal will be for 100 per cent of Ontarians to be attached to a family doctor or nurse practitioner working in a publicly funded team, where they receive ongoing, comprehensive care and people can access that care in a timely way."

Nickel Belt MPP France Glinas, the NDP's health critic, said Philpott's appointment to the new role on Monday came as a surprise.

"The Ontario Medical Association was at Queens Park yesterday," Glinas said.

"They had not been consulted, although they had asked for such a committee to be put together for, I would say, the last three years."

Glinas said that while she has "nothing but respect" for Philpott, she doesn't believe solving what she calls a health-care crisis in Ontario aligns with the provincial government's goals.

"The priority for this government is the privatization of healthcare, making sure that as many private clinics for CT, for MRI, for hip and knee surgery are up and running," she said.

In a statement from Ontario's Ministry of Health, a spokesperson said Ontario has one of the "largest publicly funded health-care systems inthe world."

"We are proud of the progress we have achieved and her recognize there is still more to be done. That is exactly why we are taking the next step to connect everyone in Ontario who wants a primary care provider to one in the next five yearsyears," the statement said.

"This builds on the steps we have taken to launch the largest expansion of the medical school education system in 15 years and add a historic number of primary care teams to connect 330,000 more people to primary care."

The ministry noted the expansion of diagnostic procedures, including MRI and CT machines, has been publicly funded and will continue to be.

Earlier this year,Philpott released a book called Health for All: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada, which became a national bestseller.

In the book,Philpott argues that every Canadian should have a "primary care home" that is the foundation for their health care needs.

Doctor shortage in the north

Dr. Mike Cotterill, chief of staff at the Lady Dunn Health Centre in the northern Ontario town of Wawa, said he welcomes Philpott's appointment to her new role.

"It at least shows that the government seems to be taking seriously the shortage of family doctors and nurse practitioners for Ontarians," he said.

Cotterill said that northern Ontario is especially in great need of more family doctors and nurse practitioners.

He said that Wawa, for example, should have seven family physicians to meet everyone's needs, but currently has three.

Cotterill said it's especially hard for small rural communities in the north to attract and retain new family doctors, and hopes Philpott and her team can propose some good ideas to address that issue.

"Is it return of service contracts? Is it making rural northern medicine more financially rewarding?" he said.