Physician recruitment strategy underway in Guelph Wellington

Thanks to some new funding, enhanced efforts are now underway to bring more physicians to Wellington County.

The Guelph Wellington Ontario Health Team (GW OHT) has secured collective funding of $130,000 from the City of Guelph and Wellington County to establish a new physician recruitment program. 

“The business case that was developed to inform that funding investment really spoke about the need for us to develop a Guelph Wellington Physician Recruitment Strategy that compliments and augments recruitment work that is already underway,” said GW OHT director of transformation Emmi Perkins.

“So, we aren’t starting from scratch. All of the organizations that provide physician services are actively recruiting. We want to understand what we can do as a collective and as a community to compliment and augment what they are already doing.”

Perkins said some organizations might be incapable of accomplishing certain aspects of physician recruitment because of their own capacity or funding issues.

“This strategy will help us see what we can do as a collective to optimize what’s already being done and maybe fill in some of the gaps in terms of what else we can do to support physician recruitment to Guelph-Wellington.”

In 2023, six new family doctors came to Guelph. Of those, four replaced retired physicians. 

While the provincial average for family physician's patient rosters is 1,200-1,250 in Guelph Wellington, that average increases to 1,298.  

Seven per cent of all rostered patients receive care from family physicians who are older than 64 years old.

With 18,000 new housing units anticipated in Guelph over the next nine years, a committee report suggests 35 additional primary care physicians are needed to support the needs of the new residents.

In Wellington County, it is expected 25 additional primary care physicians are needed. 

“When you look provincially and especially, here in Guelph-Wellington at the number of housing units that the province has directed to be added to our communities, it gives us a sense of how many additional physicians we require to be able to provide primary care to those new residents,” Perkins said.

“That is on top of retirements and other reasons that a physician might leave a practice. So, this is about not only replacing physicians who leave, but also anticipating and developing the capacity to provide primary care to residents.”

Family doctor shortages can create stress for patients, communities and physicians. However, Perkins said physicians in Guelph Wellington are fortunate because most work as part of 'team-based' care models.

"We don’t have a lot of primary care physicians who have a solo practice. Most of our doctors are part of teams of integrated care providers that support them, such as dietitian services or other complimentary allied health services so that they are easily accessible to meet the need of clients,” Perkins said.

“We are fortunate to have such organized team-based care for our physicians to practice in.”

A task group is currently working to develop physician recruitment efforts. The Guelph Chamber of Commerce will also provide 'in-kind' services towards the initiative.

"We have secured funding, and we also have the support of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health who have completed a needs analysis. They’ve surveyed some of the local physicians to help better understand perspectives and what we might be able to do to augment existing recruitment efforts,” Perkins said.

“We are also looking at what we can do to support international recruitment. This includes having career fairs in other provinces, in the U.S. and over seas. This will help us to understand, how we as a collective, and in partnership with other communities, can be better represented overseas and to see who might be interested in coming to this area.”

In addition, GW OHT is looking at ways to support student placements, including locums or residencies, to give student learners and student physicians the opportunity to come and experience the health care system in Guelph Wellington.

“We heard through the analysis that has been completed, that often, physicians have come to Guelph Wellington because they had the opportunity to practice as a student or through a locum, which is a good way of attracting more physicians to our community,” Perkins said.

“Yes, we are going to do some things in the short term to support and augment physician recruitment. We want to better understand what we are doing relative to what we need to do both now, and into the future. The strategy that we develop now is really what will better inform what is needed in the long term.”

Perkins said Guelph Wellington residents should not expect to hit a period of equilibrium for a number of years.

“It is anticipated that it may get worse before it gets better in terms of the supply and demand equation. So, in the context of our growing community from a housing perspective, we don’t anticipate this as something that is short term,” Perkins said.

“We need look at what we can develop now as a foundation to support the growing needs of the community.”