More than 6.5 million people in Canada don't have access to primary care
As more doctors retire and our population grows and ages, the situation is poised to get worse. OurCare is a national conversation about the future of primary care. It focuses on the public's expectations, how they define good primary care, and what policy changes they recommend to shape the system.
OurCare for everyone
Over 16 months, between September 2022 and December 2023, OurCare engaged nearly 10,000 people about their experiences with primary care and their values, ideas, and hopes for the future and improvement of that care.
The conversation placed special emphasis on engaging people who have the greatest needs of care, face the greatest barriers to accessing care, and are most likely to be excluded from policy-making decisions about primary care. OurCare had three phases:
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9,279 respondents answered questions on access to care, priorities for care, use of walk-in clinics, virtual care, primary care teams, access to health records, and options for system redesign.
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A total of 159 people were engaged in deep dialogues about primary care in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia.
For each panel, 29–35 members of the public were randomly selected to roughly match the demographics of the province. Together they spent 30–40 hours learning about primary care from experts and then deliberating in small groups to reach consensus on recommendations for a better system.
Each priorities panel culminated with a report written by the members of the public themselves.
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We engaged a total of 192 participants from communities that are consistently underserved by primary care systems and often excluded from policy conversations. We held two roundtables in each of the five provinces in partnership with local community organizations
In each of these one-day focused dialogues, 14-24 participants shared experiences and challenges accessing primary care and articulated ideas for change.
Public opinion,
expertly informed
To support all three phases, OurCare convened five provincial advisory groups and two national advisory groups comprising primary care clinicians, researchers, health care administrators, policy-makers and more. We also partnered with more than 75 experts and health care leaders who engaged directly with participants in dialogue and knowledge-building.
A new Standard of primary care
The OurCare Standard represents what every person living in Canada should be able to expect of the primary care they receive. And it provides a framework for comparing different models of primary care and levelling up those models to realize better primary care for everyone living in Canada.
The OurCare Standard
Everyone has a relationship with a primary care clinician who works with other health professionals in a publicly funded team.
Everyone receives ongoing care from their primary care team and can access them in a timely way.
Everyone’s primary care team is connected to community and social services that together support their physical, mental and social well-being.
Everyone can access their health record online and share it with their clinicians.
Everyone receives culturally safe care that meets their needs from clinicians that represent the diversity of the communities they serve.
Everyone receives care from a primary care system that is accountable to the communities it serves.
OurCare is making headlines
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What do Canadians want for their health care?
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Massive new survey finds widespread frustration with access to primary health care
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Here's how 10,000 Canadians would fix primary care
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Primary-care teams, access to health records key fixes for family doctor crisis: report
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Citizens panel recommends Indigenous health dept.
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When we listen (finally) to Marie Michelle
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Reorganizing primary care could alleviate family doctor crisis
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31 British Columbians give recommendations for primary health care changes
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Here's how patients want Ontario's primary health-care system to change
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We need bold reform to fix family health care
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The Current with Matt Galloway - What Canadians want from their primary care
Meet the OurCare Team
OurCare is based at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and was conceived and executed in partnership with MASS LBP. OurCare was a large national collaboration and we are grateful to the many people who contributed their time and expertise to make it a success.
Dr. Tara Kiran is the OurCare Principal Investigator.
She is a family physician and scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and the Fidani Chair of Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto.
Jasmin Kay is the OurCare National Project Director and Director at MASS LBP. Her experience in uniting community agencies during the pandemic reinforced her belief in trust and reciprocity as key enablers of change.
Peter MacLeod is the OurCare Special Project Advisor and Principal at MASS LBP. He is a leading expert in public engagement and deliberative democracy. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
OurCare Core Team
Chris Ellis
MASS LBP
Emily Holton
MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions
Emily Jin
MASS LBP
Richard Johnson
MASS LBP
Kayte McKnight
MASS LBP
Samira Prasad
MAP Centre for Urban
Health Solutions
Kanya Rajendra
Temerty Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Rachel Thelen
MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions
Sarah Yaffe
MASS LBP
Chimemwe Alao
MASS LBP
Maryam Danesh
MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions
Kirsten Eldridge
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
OurCare Primary Care Regional Leads
Goldis Mitra
(British Columbia)
Mandy Buss
(Manitoba)
Amanda Condon
(Manitoba)
Alan Katz
(Manitoba)
Mylaine Breton
(Quebec)
Neb Kovacina
(Quebec)
Ruth Lavergne
(Nova Scotia)
Katherine Stringer
(Nova Scotia)
Community Roundtable Collaborating Organizations
Indigenous Primary
Health Care Council
(Ontario)
Michael Redhead Champagne
(Manitoba)
Nova Scotia Health Authority
(Nova Scotia)
TAIBU Community Health Centre
(Ontario)
Umbrella Multicultural
Health Cooperative
(British Columbia)
United Way Halifax
(Nova Scotia)
Well Living House
(Ontario)
Afrique au Féminin
(Québec)
Black Physicians
Association of Ontario
(Ontario)
Clinique Mauve
(Québec)
Disability Without Poverty
(British Columbia)
Durham Community
Health Centre
(Ontario)
Elmwood Community
Resource Centre
(Manitoba)
Halifax Refugee Clinic
(Nova Scotia)
OurCare Advisors
National Collaborating Organizations
Ako Anyaduba
Black Physicians of Canada
Rick Glazier
Canadian Institute for Health Research
John Feeley & Moira Teed
Canadian Medical Association
Christie Newton
College of Family Physicians of Canada
Benjamin Diepeveen, Kajan Ratneswaran,
Susannah Taylor, Elizabeth Toller & Jocelyne Voisin
Health Canada
Bill Callery & Jennifer Major
Healthcare Excellence Canada
Melanie Osmack
Indigenous Physicians
Association of Canada
Manitoba Advisory Group
Keir Johnson
Doctors Manitoba
Ashley Plypowich
Indigenous Services Canada
Mike Loudon
Interlake-Eastern Health Authority
Connie Newman
Manitoba Association of Senior Communities
Ganesan Abbu & Lisa Goss
Manitoba College of Family Physicians (MCFP)
Barbara Wasilewski, Jeanette Edwards & Phil Jarman
Manitoba Health
Scott Sinclair
Manitoba Ministry of Health
Chukwuma (Chuck) Abara
Northern Health Authority
Ian Whetter
Ongomiizwin Health Services
Mpho Begin
Pan-Canadian Patient Council
Brian Schoonbaert
Prairie Mountain Health
Denis Fortier & Vikas Sethi
Shared Health
Alan Katz
Departments of Community Health Sciences and Family Medicine,
University of Manitoba
Amanda Condon
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba
Ian Alexander
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba;
Selkirk Medical Associates
Jose Francois
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba
Karen Appel
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba
Mandy Buss
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba
Nathan Coleman
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba
Rebecca Mueller
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba
Joanne Maier
Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba
Sara Goulet
Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba
Karen Cook
Office of Community Engagement, University of Manitoba
Melanie MacKinnon
Ongomiizwin Institute of Health and Healing, University of Manitoba
Christine Duprat
Joss Reimer & Mike Nader, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA)
British Columbia Advisory Group
Sari Cooper
General Practice Services Committee (GPSC), Family Practice Services Committee (FPSC)
Thuy-Nga (Tia) Pham
Island Health
William Cunningham
Island Health
Ray Chaboyer
North Shore Division of Family Practice
Eliza Henshaw
Nurses and Nurse Practitioners
of British Columbia (NNPBC)
Anthon Meyer
Rural Coordination Centre of BC
Ray Markham
Rural Coordination Centre of BC
Lindsay Hedden
Simon Fraser University
Christie Newton
College of Family Physicians of Canada & Department of Family Medicine, University of British Columbia
Goldis Mitra
Department of Family Medicine, University of British Columbia
Morgan Price
Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia
Rita McCracken
University of British Columbia
Nardia Strydom
Vancouver Coastal Health
Ontario Advisory Group
Jennifer Rayner
Alliance for Healthier Communities
Bryn Hamilton & Kavita Mehta
Association for Family Health Teams of Ontario
Francis Garwe
Carea Community Health Centre
Sophia Ikura
Health Commons Solutions Lab, Sinai Health System
Nicole Blackman
Indigenous Primary Health Care Council
Derelie Mangin
Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University
Sarah Newbery
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Dana Cooper
Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario
Mekalai Kumanan & Kimberly Moran
Ontario College of Family Physicians
Zahra Ismail & Elizabeth Muggah
Ontario Health
Dominik Nowak, Jim Wright & Rose Zacharias
Ontario Medical Association
Nadia Surani & Darlene Wong
Ontario Ministry of Health
Danielle Brown-Shreves
Restore Medical Clinics
Andrew Pinto
St. Michael’s Hospital, Upstream Lab & Department of
Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Kamila Premji
Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa
Mike Green
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University
Monica Aggarwal
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Aisha Lofters
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Danielle Martin
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Noah Ivers
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
Vanessa Wright
Women’s College Hospital
Valerie St. John
BC Association of Community
Health Centres
Toby Achtman
BC College of Family Physicians
Justine Spencer
BC College of Family Physicians
Danette Dawkin & Renee Fernandez
BC Family Doctors
Alan Ruddiman
BC Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues & Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia
Ted Patterson
BC Ministry of Health
Christina Krause
BC Patient Safety & Quality Council
Birinder Narang
Burnaby Divisions of Family Practice
Kim McGrail
Centre for Health Services
and Policy Research
Kathleen Ross
Canadian Medical Association
Karin Kausky
Doctors of BC
Terri Aldred
First Nations Health Authority
Janet Evans
General Practice Services Committee (GPSC), Family Practice Services Committee (FPSC)
Quebec Advisory Group
Chakib Setti
Association québécoise des médecins du sport et de l'exercice (AQMSE)
Alain Papineau
Collège Québécois de Médecins de Famille
Frantz-Daniel LaFortune
Collège Québécois de Médecins de Famille
Denis Roy
Health and Welfare Commissioner (HWC)
Eric Lavoie
Regional Department of General Medicine (DRMG)
Ariane Murray
Regional Department of General Medicine (DRMG) Montreal
Claude Guimond
Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec
Philippe Lachance, Aurore Deligne, & Ginette Martel
Ministry of Health and Social Services
Nebojsa Kovacina
Department of Family Medicine, McGill University
Isabelle LeBlanc
Department of Family Medicine, McGill University
Kimberly Munro
Department of Family Medicine, McGill University
Maxine Dumas-Pilon
Department of Family Medicine, McGill University
France Légaré
Department of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine,
Laval University
Marie-Dominique Beaulieu
Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, University of Montréal
Mylaine Breton
Department of Social Science and Medicine, University of Sherbrooke
Yves Couturier
School of Social Work, University of Sherbrooke
Catherine Hudon
Department of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine, University of Sherbrooke
Stephanie Plante-Blanchette
Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ)
Nova Scotia Advisory Group
Brent Young
Dalhousie Medical School, Dalhousie University
Ruth Lavergne
Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University
Katherine Stringer
Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University
Leah Jones
Dalhousie Medical School, Dalhousie University
Sarah Cook
IWK Department of Family Medicine - Maternal Newborn Care, Dalhousie University
Samantha Aiton & Muhammad Azam
Department of Health and Wellness, Government of Nova Scotia
Cathie W. Carroll
Nova Scotia College of Family Physicians
Tim Woodford
Nova Scotia College of Family Physicians
Erika Baird
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Graeme Kohler
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Joan Salah
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Lindsay Cormier
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Lindsay Sutherland
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Maria Alexiadis
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Shannon Proctor
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Stephanie Langley
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Leisha Hawker
Doctors Nova Scotia
Maddi McKay
Doctors Nova Scotia
Emily Marshall
Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University
Allison Bodnar
Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia
Sharon Rudderham
Tajikeimɨk
Melanie Dunlop
Nurse Practitioner Association of Nova Scotia
Pam Glode-Desrochers
Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre
Maggie Keresteci
Canadian Association for Health Services & Policy Research
Andrew MacLean
Dalhousie University
Michel Amar
Former Communications Director, Romanow Commission
Scott Garrison
University of Alberta
Sara Allin
University of Toronto
Vivian R Ramsden
University of Saskatchewan
Additional Collaborators
Patient Advisory Groups
Improving Primary Care Public Advisors
Council at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions
Patient Voice Advisory Group at
Canadian Medical Association