The Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) has released a new report developed with input from a variety of stakeholders from across Ontario including the public, health care organizational leaders and family physicians.
The report focuses on the OCFP’s Vision 2020, developed to help raise the bar in the health care system. Vision 2020 is based on the idea that the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of people of all ages can be met in one place: family practice. Vision 2020 includes six goals, including that every person in Ontario has access to a family doctor who works in a multi-disciplinary team (including mental health workers), and has access to a comprehensive basket of health care services and avoids unnecessary visits to their local hospital emergency room. Another goal is that every person in Ontario have an electronic health record.
The key messages in the report are:
- Healthcare in Ontario is making a difference in the lives of people in Ontario, yet more needs to be done;
- The public expects that everyone in Ontario will have access to a family physician that is practicing with other health care professionals in the near future, yet this is not likely;
- The population is aging and chronic diseases are on the rise, placing larger demands on the health care system;
- Family medicine needs to be enhanced in big cities, small towns and in remote and rural communities; and
- Further enhancement needs to be made in family medicine and the primary care system.
See “Vision 2020: Raising the Bar in Family Medicine and Ontario’s Primary Care Sector,” Ontario College of Family Physicians, January 2011, available at www.ocfp.on.ca.