Primary care is the backbone of our health system. It’s why provinces are investing in new models, recruiting and training more clinicians and trying to ensure that every patient has a family doctor. But improving access to primary care isn’t just about adding more doctors – it’s about strengthening the supports around them, and the patients they care for. Every day, family doctors see patients who need help with forms, follow-up care or medication management. These needs directly shape health outcomes, yet some of this care, could be effectively handled by social workers, pharmacists, mental health providers, and others. Our system treats these supports as optional, but they’re essential to delivering the outcomes we expect from primary care. The fix isn’t complicated. But it does require us to look beyond the solo physician’s office for help.

I’ve been a member of the Jane Finch Health Team (FHT) with nurse practitioners, social workers, pharmacists, dietitians and others for almost 20 years. I have no doubt that I and my patients are significantly better served with the help of other health professionals on our team. But we need to do much more. Only 30% of Ontarians are lucky enough to have access to a multi-disciplinary team like my patients do.

Over the last few decades, I, along with a chorus of other family physicians, have been calling for changes to the way we work. The family health team or ‘medical home’ has anchored our thinking about primary care – a place where patients can count on continuity, coordination and a trusted point of entry into the system. But quite often these homes and other family physicians remain unconnected to the rest of the health community.

Recently, I participated in an important discussion, where the President of Shoppers Drug Mart shared an innovative approach to primary care that he termed a ‘medical neighbourhood’.

A ‘medical neighbourhood’ would build virtual teams that link the family doctor with every provider involved in the patient’s circle of care. It challenges the outdated expectation that family physicians must single-handedly deliver all primary care to all people. Instead, it recognizes that patients thrive when they can draw on a range of professionals – and the real priority isn’t which door they enter first, but to make sure no matter which door that is, that their family doctor is connected to the care.

Imagine if more patients could access a social worker directly through their family doctor – someone who could help them complete the forms and paperwork necessary to access social assistance. This would be an enormous benefit not only to patients, but also to family doctors who often end up carrying this burden for newcomers or for those who struggle to navigate these systems on their own.

Given the well-documented impact of socioeconomic status on health outcomes, this kind of support would strengthen our entire health care system. A well-functioning medical neighbourhood would make this possible. It would also ensure that if a patient walked into a social worker’s office instead of their family doctor’s, the social worker could seamlessly connect with the physician or refer the patient directly when needed. /div>

Consider the role of a pharmacist who can run a follow-up hypertension clinic or support medication reconciliation after a hospital discharge. Or imagine a patient who needs timely counselling from a mental health provider. A medical neighbourhood not only facilitates these necessary patient-centered engagements – it actively encourages them.

Just as important, when patients access these services first, the connectivity across the medical neighbourhood ensures that the family doctor remains informed and appropriately involved. These providers are essential for improving outcomes, but they also free up valuable time for over-burdened family physicians to focus on the care only they can deliver.

Yes, there would have to be clear roles and responsibilities. Policy and procedures would need to be put in place. And we’d need one health record for each patient. Quite often these obstacles get in the way of progress and frankly good intentions. But we already know we CAN do this.

Expanding primary care access is essential, but it won’t deliver on its promise unless we also invest in the supports that make primary care work. We often say it takes a village. In health care, it takes a neighbourhood – a medical neighbourhood where social workers, pharmacists, mental health providers and others are truly connected to patients and their family doctors. Strengthening primary care means strengthening the network around it. It’s time we build both.

Comments

Bernita Drenth wrote:

Posted 2026/02/04 at 04:40 PM EST