Mandatory panel sizes for family doctors is an ineffective policy tool that breaks trust and lowers morale

2025-06-11

The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) is concerned with recent trends of using unrealistic family physician panel sizes as a punitive mechanism to pressure family doctors into taking on more patients. A physician’s panel size is the number of patients they care for as the most responsible provider. As seen in recent policy development in Prince Edward Island, such an approach creates a counterproductive relationship that makes physicians feel not valued or respected by the system in which they play a foundational role.

As patient complexity continues to increase, maintaining panel sizes that were possible in previous decades is becoming less feasible, and these changes must be reflected in evolving policy. Exceeding reasonable panel sizes leads to physician burnout and decreased quality and comprehensiveness of care, as well as longer wait times. Furthermore, family physician circumstances vary and panel sizes they can accommodate fluctuates accordingly.

There are similar concerns about other punitive policies enforcing unrealistic goals on family physicians without proper consultation. An example of this is expectations of family doctors offering appointment times that are unrealistic given the current patient load.

While issues around access to family doctors are pressing and require urgent solutions, unilateral enforcement of arbitrary standards is unlikely to result in lasting success. The CFPC is calling for solutions that bring all key partners to the table, featuring strong family medicine representation, to comprehensively address current issues in health care, as described in the CFPC’s Prescription for Primary Care 2.0.

Family doctors are foundational for the successful functioning of a health care system. Policy makers must strive to create environments that attract and retain family doctors rather than create obstacles and blame system inefficiencies on hard-working family physicians providing care in communities across Canada.