The Canadian Medical Association calls on provinces and territories to rebuild the healthcare system to provide more access opportunities amid reports of emergency rooms being full across the country.

In a statement issued today, Thursday, the organization said that patients and healthcare workers are suffering under the current situation, and changes must be made to fix the entire system.

Kathleen Ross, CMA president, wrote in the statement: "Despite the tireless efforts of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers, testimonies from across the country show that patients in some provinces and territories wait up to 20 hours or more to receive care."

She continued, "Staff shortages and hospital overcrowding, in addition to poor access to high-quality team-based primary care, leave emergency departments in hospitals sadly under-resourced to face the flood of patients affected by influenza, COVID-19, or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) at this time of year."

Many hospitals are currently experiencing a surge of patients, with British Columbia recording a record number on Wednesday of patients arriving at the hospital, exceeding 10,000 patients.

The Medical Association identified team-based primary care as a potential focus for comprehensive reform, indicating that parliamentarians are discussing this during the winter session.

Team-based primary care is a strategy that allows healthcare specialists to work together in a multidisciplinary team, enabling them to focus on their specialties and quickly refer patients to another expert in the team depending on their medical needs. It exists in few places in Canada, according to CMA, under different models and names, but has not been widely implemented.

The statement said: "No one wants to spend 20 hours waiting for care that they or their loved ones need," and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) believes the time has come to transform and rebuild the healthcare system, including investing in team-based primary care."

This is not a new call at all; healthcare experts have been sounding the alarm about the need to fill the huge gaps in the healthcare system for years. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a great deal of pressure on the healthcare system, making it exhausted and understaffed.

But despite calls for change, the situation continued to deteriorate. Currently, one in five Canadians cannot access a family doctor, meaning they cannot receive timely care for minor issues or good care for chronic problems.

The CMA statement emphasized that the lack of primary care options increases pressure on emergency rooms, which are often treated as an alternative to primary care or outpatient clinics rather than being reserved for emergencies.

Ross wrote: "Without combined cooperation and focus, we will continue to endure endless cycles of deterioration in our health systems and the people who work in them."