Social Policy in Ontario

The Ontario Health Quality Council (OHQC) report has put forward several recommendations regarding changes that should be made to the health-care system. Ontario’s doctors and the Ontario Medical Association welcome a thoughtful and thorough discussion about improvements to the system with all our health-care partners.

We know there a couple of areas where more work needs to be done, but there have also been a number of significant successes that should not be overlooked. In the past six years Ontario’s doctors have helped more than 1.2 million people who previously didn’t have access to a family doctor find one, including 600,000 since 2008.  There are over 2,000 more physicians practising in the province and more medical school spaces, and more physicians are choosing to become family doctors. Ontario’s doctors have also been working hard by performing more surgeries and helping reduce wait times for important procedures.

We are fully committed to working with the government to make Ontario an even more attractive place to practice medicine and to help develop a comprehensive system that will improve patients’ access to quality health care and will also result in the best outcomes for patients.

Dr. Mark MacLeod, president, Ontario Medical Association, Toronto.

< http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/Ontario+make+system+better/3120819/story.html >