As efforts throughout many communities focus on attracting new family doctors to set up practice, work to retain existing physicians is “equally” important, says the Peterborough Family Physician Think Tank.
Peterborough’s Dr. Madura Sundareswaran said keeping family doctors happy and settled in Peterborough is also a key goal of the recently formed think tank.
The Peterborough Family Physician Think Tank is a consulting and brainstorming group of independent family physicians that focuses on local advocacy and the grassroots-level changes needed to support doctor recruitment and retention from the perspective of family physicians.
“Hiring new family doctors in Peterborough is important, but we should be equally committed to keeping family doctors in the community,” Dr. Sundareswaran told kawarthaNOW. “We need to focus on the retention of family physicians.”
She said local family doctors have all been impacted by the numerous family physician retirements and practice closures in the community over the last few years, noting ever-increasing administrative burden, burnout, and operational expenses continue to threaten the future of the profession.
“Despite this, Peterborough is made up of a strong group of family physicians who continue to enjoy their work, are passionate about what they do and dedicate time and resources to train the next generation of family physicians,” she said.
The Peterborough Family Physician Think Tank was established to bring this diverse group of practising family physicians together, to not only discuss some of the day-to-day challenges but brainstorm solutions that can be implemented at the community level, Dr. Sundareswaran noted.
Unlike recruitment, retention of family physicians “is much more difficult to measure,” the doctor said.
However, a recent survey by the Ontario College of Family Physicians shows nearly 65 per cent of family physicians plan to leave family practice or reduce their hours in the next five years.
“Physicians have been sounding alarm bells for years about our concerns regarding this,” she said. “The reality for many of us — including those early in our careers — is that without any change, many of us may begin closing our doors.”
“We depend on our provincial government and medical organizations to advocate for the big changes to funding models that ultimately will have the biggest impact on physician recruitment and retention,” Dr. Sundareswaran added. “But, as we bear witness to a shrinking workforce and rising frustrations among our colleagues, it feels very difficult to sit on our hands and do nothing.”
She said there are gaps in the way primary care is delivered “at every step of the way. The think tank aims to be one avenue to drive meaningful, purposeful change that will be able to tackle some of the barriers in family medicine today.”
The City of Peterborough recently announced it was partnering with the Peterborough Family Doctors’ Think Tank, which Dr. Sundareswaran founded, in support of the city’s new approach to physician recruitment and retention.
