Frustration Grows for Patients on Ontario’s Doctor Waitlist

Anne Bradley is flipping through the phone book at her home in Kingston, Ont., trying to find clinics and hoping to connect with a new family doctor.

Bradley is a cancer survivor. After her doctor retired in 2017, she joined the province’s centralized waitlist, Health Care Connect (HCC), to look for a new primary care provider.

Two years later, she was assigned to a physician about 140 kilometres away in Kemptville, but when that doctor let go of half their patients a few months ago, Bradley found herself back on the waitlist and feeling disillusioned with the system.

“I’m sort of getting cynical that all [the HCC] is accomplishing is to have patients just step back and have a false sense of security,” she said.

The HCC is meant to be a centralized list of all Ontarians looking for a family doctor or nurse practitioner. When an opening comes up at a nearby clinic, the next person on the list should fill it.

However, in Ottawa and Kingston, clinics are managing their own patient lists, sometimes attracting hundreds of hopeful patients eager to get in.

“I find it baffling,” Bradley said. “Why go through that process of having people line up to get in when [the clinics] could just access the list?”

Hundreds queue in May 2024 for a coveted spot with a family doctor in Kingston, Ont. (Jamie Corbett)

Lack of communication

This raises an important question for Bradley: What’s the purpose of HCC?

Jess Rogers, CEO of the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, mentioned that while the idea of having one centralized list accessible by all clinics is feasible, some clinics appear unaware of how it works.

“It’s not intentionally fighting with one another. I think it’s really with the best intentions that every community is trying to get people into care as quickly as possible,” Rogers told CBC.

She noted that improved communication between the province and primary care clinics would be beneficial.

“It’s a little bit messy right now, so you’ve got to kind of hang in there.”

According to Ontario’s auditor general’s latest annual report, though, the Ministry of Health hasn’t updated its HCC communications plan since 2015.

Auditor General Shelley Spence found that many Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) informed the ministry back in December 2024 that they “do not support updating the existing legacy HCC tool as it is no longer fit for purpose.”

“These OHTs communicated that HCC was not widely supported by providers or accessed by Ontarians and that as an outdated system from 2009 it required redesign to integrate with OHTs,” according to her report.

Ontario’s Auditor General Shelley Spence speaks to members of the media at Queen’s Park on Dec. 2 after releasing her 2025 report. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

HCC falling short, auditor says

The report indicated that out of 178,000 registrants on the HCC waitlist as of June 2025, more than 108,000 had been waiting over a year for primary care providers.

“HCC has not fully met the needs of Ontarians,” it concluded.

Furthermore, “the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health did not consistently have processes in place to plan or oversee programs and initiatives aimed at improving patients’ access to primary care providers.”

A spokesperson for the Minister of Health told CBC that this year they’ve reduced the HCC waitlist by 65 percent and plan further reductions by next spring.

“As part of our government’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan we are working towards connecting every person on this waitlist who registered as of Jan. 1, 2025 with primary care by spring 2026,” according to their statement.

The spokesperson also mentioned new and expanded primary care teams around Ottawa are expected to take on another 40 thousand patients soon.

Filling gaps

Around two million people were estimated without primary care providers across Ontario as far back as 2024 according to INSPIRE-Primary Health Care -a network consisting mainly of researchers focused on primary health issues within Ontario.

This situation has led volunteers from Ottawa stepping up efforts aimed at quickly pairing patients with available primary healthcare providers!

Cynthia Boucher helps run Ottawa Doctors Search-a Facebook group dedicated toward assisting individuals seeking connections between them & local medical facilities! (Emma Weller/CBC)

The volunteers scour various city clinics each week looking specifically for open slots; yet even so-there remain over eight thousand names listed currently awaiting placement-far exceeding current offerings available!

“I wish we weren’t stuck here right now-but since we are? It’s essential our community steps forward filling voids where information isn’t reaching citizens adequately,” remarked Cynthia Boucher-the volunteer overseeing Ottawa Doctors Search initiative!

“We just feel like it’s something we need do.”

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