August 27, 2026
Source: CBC News
By Paul Forsyth
Niagara residents frustrated in their search to find a family physician may get the impression that you have as much chance of getting a doctor as you have of winning the lottery.
But new data from Niagara’s regional government suggests there may be more doctors looking to take on new patients in the region than many think.
“We have about 41 doctors in Niagara accepting new patients now, which is an all-time record,” said Jill Croteau, physician recruitment program manager for the region. “I have been in this role for 15 years and I have never seen 41 doctors accepting patients.”
Some of those doctors have been accepting new patients for more than a year, said Croteau.
A new partnership between Niagara’s regional government, municipalities and the Niagara Practitioners’ Healthcare Alliance is playing matchmaker between prospective patients and doctors with capacity.
People can search for doctors and community health centres accepting new patients by municipality at the region’s find-a-doctor website. The program also has “system navigators”, who can help people find the right doctor and apply or register with doctors.
A need for specialists
Another partnership between the region and Niagara Health launched this year is also targeting physician specialists for hospitals in Niagara.
Croteau’s office, which has led in physician recruitment in Niagara for 25 years in partnership with the towns and cities, works on recruiting doctors through a global recruitment strategy that’s yielding results at a time when many doctors are past or approaching normal retirement age.
In 2025, 28 new family physicians were lured to Niagara, while 15 other doctors left practice. Of the doctors recruited in 2025, the vast majority – 71 per cent – were from the United Kingdom.
But based on Niagara’s population and average doctor practice size, Niagara is still short about 107 of the 399 physicians it should have, statistics show.
Many doctors over 65
Recruitment gains are offset by a growing population and an aging doctor population in Niagara that puts patients at risk of losing their family doctor. Regional statistics show that more than 53,000 Niagara residents, about a tenth of the population, are enrolled to doctors over 65.
It isn’t just family doctors in short supply. Niagara Health, which operates three hospitals along with urgent care centres at the former Port Colborne and Fort Erie hospitals, is also facing a serious shortage of some specialities, such as emergency department doctors.
In June, the region and Niagara Health formalized a new partnership in which Croteau’s office is expanding its reach to include attracting specialists for hospitals facing pressures in emergency and acute care services due to doctor shortages. The partnership includes the hiring of a new physician recruitment coordinator, Patty Rondinelli.
CBC News asked Niagara Health for an interview to discuss its physician shortage and how those shortages impact patients.
Niagara Health provided a statement from chief of staff Dr. Kevin Chan, who said it has 45 doctor vacancies across several priority areas, including emergency medicine, psychiatry, internal medicine, anesthesia and other specialized services.
“Our most significant recruitment needs are in emergency medicine and psychiatry, both of which are experiencing physician shortages across Ontario and Canada,” Chan said.
“Physician recruitment remains one of our top priorities as we work to strengthen access to care.”
Chan said 26 physician offer letters have been signed since the start of the year across multiple specialties, including emergency medicine, anesthesia and internal medicine.
Chan did not address how those physician shortages affect patients, but Niagara Health has had to frequently scale back hours at its urgent care centres in the last year due to physician staffing shortages at its emergency departments in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Welland.
Niagara isn’t alone in its shortage of ER doctors. A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in July found that one in 10 ER doctors have left the profession, while the vast majority of others are reducing their hours or taking time off to manage chronic burnout and emotional exhaustion from record patient numbers and long waits.
9,000 residents connected with doctors
The new partnership between Niagara Health, the medical practitioners’ alliance and municipalities – known as Connect to Care – has connected 9,000 additional residents to family physician care in the first months of 2026, according to the region’s statistics.
As well as health benefits, Niagara’s economy may also benefit from more doctors.
“Having … access to family physicians and specialized medicine doctors is important for any company or investor that’s looking to invest in the region,” George Spezza, director of economic development for the region, told CBC News.
“It really adds to the quality of life and is one of the areas they look at when they’re making an investment decision.”
That’s why the region moved the physician recruitment program from the public health umbrella to economic development nearly two years ago, Spezza said.
It’s also why the region invests in global recruitment involving trips overseas to attract doctors.
“Like business investment, attracting physicians is competitive,” said Spezza. “If you’re not in the game and you’re not proactive and you’re not showing up in markets, someone else is.”
Recruiting doctors requires playing the long game, with unrushed courting, Croteau said.
“Often times we’re working with physicians for two, three, four, five years prior to them making a decision,” she said.