OPEN LETTER: Group Health 'fully committed to navigating this crisis'

The Group Health Centre delivered some devastating news this morning: another 10,000 patients will be dropped from its roster by May 31 because of the ongoing doctor shortage plaguing Ontario, especially in the north.

As SooToday reported last summer, the Group Health Centre had already "de-rostered" nearly 3,000 patients over the past six years due to a lack of family physicians and nurse practitioners.

Sault Ste. Marie MPP Ross Romano described this morning's announcement as "a very difficult day" for the city and surrounding area. "I'm ticked off, to put it mildly," he said.

Thousands of local residents no doubt feel the same way.

Below is the full text of an open letter to the community released today by Lil Silvano, the president and CEO of the Group Health Centre, and Dr. Jodie Stewart, the CEO and Chair of the Algoma District Medical Group.

Dear Residents,

Our community, like many others, has experienced challenges with the healthcare system, particularly in primary care. With its unique healthcare model, Group Health Centre (GHC) has sheltered our region from the nationwide primary care provider shortages that other communities have experienced. GHC has been instrumental in maintaining care for approximately 60,000 patients.

GHC and the Algoma District Medical Group (ADMG), the team of physicians who practice at the GHC, have been addressing a severe shortage of physicians and nurse practitioners in family medicine for some time. This trend is not unique to our community. The rate of new providers entering the field has not kept pace with retirements, and many existing primary care providers face burnout. Despite many proactive efforts, including extensive recruitment initiatives (locally and internationally), securing temporary providers, delaying retirements and re-engaging retired professionals, this situation is no longer sustainable. This has led us to the critical point we find ourselves at today.

ADMG will be informing patients of those Primary Care Providers who have recently retired or left their practices that they will no longer have primary care services. Approximately 10,000 patients will lose access to their primary care provider and the same-day clinic services at GHC as of May 31, 2024.  To ensure that every impacted individual is informed as quickly as possible, each patient will receive a detailed letter with more information.

We recognize the profound effect this will have on our patients, their loved ones, and the broader community.

GHC and ADMG are fully committed to navigating this crisis. Our immediate focus is to stabilize our operations and continue to provide care to 50,000 patients in our community. We look forward to working with our community partners and the Ministry of Health to build additional capacity for the future.

As we work towards resolving these challenges, we encourage you, as community members, to actively participate in this conversation. Your voices are powerful. We recognize the scale of the challenge before us. We are confident that working together with our elected government representatives, we can find solutions for our community.