Anne Bradley, a resident of Kingston, Ontario, is on a quest to find a new family doctor after her previous one retired in 2017. As a cancer survivor, she turned to Health Care Connect (HCC), the province’s centralized waitlist, to seek a new primary care provider. However, after being assigned a doctor 140 kilometers away in Kemptville two years later, and then being placed back on the waitlist when that doctor reduced their roster, Bradley is losing confidence in the system.
The HCC is designed to be a master list of all Ontarians in need of a family doctor or nurse practitioner. When an opening becomes available at a nearby clinic, the next person on the list is supposed to fill the spot. Yet, in Ottawa and Kingston, clinics are managing their own patient rosters, causing hundreds of hopeful patients to line up in hopes of securing a spot.
Bradley expressed frustration, questioning why clinics do not simply access the centralized list instead of making patients wait in line. The lack of communication and coordination between the province and primary care clinics has led to confusion and inefficiencies in the system, according to Jess Rogers, CEO of the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario.
The latest report from Ontario’s auditor general highlighted shortcomings in the HCC system, with over 108,000 individuals waiting for a primary care provider for more than a year out of the 178,000 registrants on the waitlist in June 2025. The report concluded that the HCC has not fully met the needs of Ontarians, citing inadequate planning and oversight by the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health.
In response to these challenges, the Minister of Health’s office stated that efforts are underway to reduce the HCC waitlist and connect every person on the list to primary care by spring 2026. Additionally, new primary care teams are expected to take on 40,000 more patients in the Ottawa region. Provincewide, an estimated two million individuals lacked a primary care provider as of 2024, prompting initiatives like Ottawa Doctors Search, a volunteer-run group that helps match patients with available clinic spots in the city.
As the healthcare system grapples with these issues, volunteers like Cynthia Boucher are stepping in to bridge the gap and ensure patients are connected with the care they need. Despite the challenges, the community-driven efforts aim to provide support where official channels may fall short.