BEYOND LOCAL: Doc says profession endangered until province antes up better pay

COLLINGWOOD - Dr. Matthew Ladda, one of Collingwood's newest family doctors, already has a full roster of patients from local waiting lists within only a couple months of opening his office doors. 

He opened his practice at Hume Street Health at 339 Hume St. this past July. As the recipient of the Town of Collingwood’s physician recruitment incentive first approved through the 2024 budget, Ladda is locked in to provide care in Collingwood for the next five years at least.

Since July, Ladda told CollingwoodToday he has on-boarded about 450 patients to his roster, with new patient appointments every week.

“Given that many of these patients have been unattached for years – or decades – there is significant work to be done regarding catching them up in both their routine and preventative care as well as assessing and treating their current medical issues,” Ladda told CollingwoodToday in an email. “This process is further slowed by the time it takes to review the several thousands of pages of old records of patients – many, many hours of unpaid administrative time that cannot be delegated.”

Ladda grew up in New Brunswick and worked as a pharmacist. He went to medical school at the University of Toronto and completed his training at the University of Western.

Before starting his own practice, Ladda helped out other family doctors in South Georgian Bay and worked at the Collingwood after-hours walk-in clinic.

His patient roster has been taken on primarily from local wait-lists, specifically from the wait-list compiled by the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team. While family practices typically attract a higher population from the community in which they're set up and most of his roster is filled with Collingwood residents, he said he’s seen an influx of unattached patients from other South Georgian Bay communities as well.

“Given the ongoing crisis in family medicine, we are seeing patients willing to drive further and further distances to get access to primary care,” he said. “As required, I have not turned prospective patients away from my practice even if their address is outside of town boundaries so long as they are agreeable to see me for in-person care.”

All South Georgian Bay municipalities have taken steps over the past couple of years to attract more new family doctors to the area. The South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team estimates there are between 6,000 and 7,000 people in South Georgian Bay who currently do not have a local family doctor.

The Ontario College of Family Physicians estimates that by 2026, one in four residents throughout Ontario will be without a family doctor.

Municipalities, including Collingwood, are putting money into physician recruitment, hoping to find more doctors for residents.

“Despite graduating a record number of family physicians, fewer and fewer of my colleagues are opting to go into community family practice due to the lack of any remuneration for overhead expenses or necessary administrative work, nor a billing model that supports the current rising complexity of care,” said Ladda.

“Nothing will alter that course unless our provincial government decides to make family medicine a priority and pays as such,” he said.