Anne Bradley, a resident of Kingston, Ontario, is on the lookout for a new family doctor after her previous physician retired in 2017. As a cancer survivor, finding a reliable primary care provider is crucial for her. Despite being placed with a doctor 140 kilometers away in Kemptville through Health Care Connect (HCC) two years later, she ended up back on the waitlist when that doctor reduced their roster, leading to her disillusionment with the system.
The purpose of HCC, a centralized list for Ontarians seeking family doctors or nurse practitioners, is to match registrants with available spots at nearby clinics. However, in Ottawa and Kingston, clinics manage their own rosters independently, resulting in long queues of hopeful patients trying to secure appointments.
Anne Bradley expressed her frustration at the lack of coordination between clinics and the HCC system, questioning the need for patients to physically line up when clinics could simply access the centralized list. Jess Rogers, CEO of the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, highlighted the importance of better communication between the province and primary care clinics to streamline the process.
According to the latest report from Ontario’s auditor general, the HCC system has not effectively met the needs of Ontarians, with over 108,000 registrants waiting for a primary care provider for more than a year as of June 2025. The report criticized the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health for not consistently planning or overseeing initiatives to improve patient access to primary care.
In response to the audit findings, the Ministry of Health spokesperson stated that significant progress has been made in reducing the HCC waitlist and plans are in place to connect all registrants with primary care providers by spring 2026. Additionally, new primary care teams are set to accommodate an additional 40,000 patients in the Ottawa region.
Despite the challenges, efforts are being made to address the gaps in primary care access. In Ottawa, volunteers are working through platforms like Ottawa Doctors Search, a Facebook group, to expedite the matching of patients with available clinic spots. With an increasing number of patients on their list, these volunteers are playing a crucial role in bridging the gap between patients and primary care providers in the community.
