EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
We asked you to share your health-care experiences with us, and you did.
You told us that Ontarians are waiting too long for health care at every turn: to get a family doctor, to see their family doctor, in emergency rooms, for specialist appointments, for mental health care, for tests, for surgeries, and for beds in long-term care.
Village Media partnered with tech company CrowdSmart AI to gauge Ontarians’ experiences with the health-care system and asked readers to take part. More than 1,500 readers shared more than 2,000 thoughts on the state of the health-care system and their own experiences, and they gave feedback on the ideas posted by other participants that resonated the most with them.
CrowdSmart AI’s system surfaced the ones that best reflect Ontario's experience as a whole and found the common themes.
The most loud and clear? Wait times. So loud, in fact, it almost drowned out everything else.
The simple phrase "Long wait times" was the single most-endorsed thought shared by readers. “Huge wait times. Poor quality care,” was the third.
Others got into specifics on the same theme.
Some spoke of their long waits for care in emergency rooms.
"I am afraid to go to ER due to wait times," wrote another.
One reader wrote of spending $8,000 on private care for their husband, praying their finances would hold on long enough he wouldn't be forced into a long-term-care home of not of their choosing.
Others spoke of years-long waits for surgeries.
"Cancer surgery should have happened within 28 days of diagnosis. Took 84 days and a late change of doctors and hospitals to get it done," wrote one reader.
Many wrote about their lack of a family doctor or rushed appointments after long waits — if they have one.
"Even if one is lucky enough to have a doctor, contacting them let alone booking an appointment in under two weeks is almost impossible," wrote one reader.
"My wife and I do not have a family doctor and are on a 10-year waiting list. I am 76," wrote another.
Readers complained about doctors insisting on addressing only one issue per visit — for billing purposes — or making patients undergo unnecessary virtual visits to boost the bottom line.
But not everyone was unhappy with their primary care: Of the few positive comments, the one that was most strongly endorsed by the most readers was "I have an excellent family doctor I trust." It was the second-most popular sentiment overall.
At the same time, "No family doctor" was almost as strongly endorsed.
While many people complained about the medical care they received, others blamed a broken system rather than the health-care workers they encountered.
"Although the providers have continued to be caring and are clearly doing their best, it is clear that they are struggling with increased workload along with a decline in support from government. This results in longer wait times, sometimes with poor outcomes," wrote one reader.
Other readers tied long wait times, overcrowded facilities, and rushed doctors to missed diagnoses and poor health as well.
The lack of available mental health care was a common concern.
"My daughter is struggling with many mental health issues and there is no help," wrote one reader.
"No mental health assistance, just constantly being thrown from one organization to another without structure," wrote another.
Some readers complained of age discrimination.
"Once I turned 65, the attitude changed. 'She is old who cares,'" wrote one.
Privatization was another common theme, with some readers very set against it, and a few speaking of private options they’ve used.
"Private, for-profit clinics really scare me. Pulling away and dividing health care workers. I will not pay a penny to these capitalist monsters," was one reader's feedback.
"Wait times to access health care services take longer unless you are willing to pay to a private clinic," wrote another. "Finding a doctor is nearly impossible, unless you want to pay. Government seems to want to invest in private clinics/services (more) than in existing public services. Emergency wait times have gotten worse, not better, as promised. Long-term care is only available to wealthy individuals. We definitely are in a two-tier health-care system thanks to the federal and provincial governments."
The Trillium shared this feedback with the health minister's office and a spokesperson for Sylvia Jones issued a statement in response that blamed the previous Liberal government for problems in the health-care system.
"Our government is not OK with that status quo," said Hannah Jensen in the emailed statement.
"That is why under the leadership of Premier (Doug) Ford our government has made record investments in our publicly funded health-care system to build a more connected and convenient health-care system that provides people with the care they need, when they need it," she said. "Since 2018, our government has increased the health-care budget by over 31 per cent, investing over $85 billion into the system this year alone. We have added over 80,000 new nurses and 12,500 new physicians to the health care workforce, added over 3,500 beds to hospitals across the province, and we are getting shovels in the ground for over 50 hospital developments to add 3,000 more, all while making historic investments to connect more than 600,000 people to primary care and adding thousands of new medical schools, nurse practitioner and nursing education seats across the province."
"To continue to reduce wait times for surgeries and diagnostic procedures, we have invested over $1 billion to support the innovative ideas of hospitals to make it faster and easier to access care," Jensen continued.
"But we are not stopping there, we are adding 100,000 new, publicly funded scans to make it faster and easier for patients across the province to access the care they need, when they need it," referring to the expansion of government-funded MRI and CT scans in private facilities.