We Don’t Just Need More Doctors. We Need To Use Physician Capacity Differently

When we talk about Canada’s physician workforce, the conversation often focuses on one question: How do we get more doctors? Dr. Cathy Faulds argues there is another question we need to be asking: How do we make better use of the physician capacity we already have?

Throughout a career, physicians’ availability changes. Parental leave, caregiving, illness, leadership responsibilities, or simply the desire to work differently can all affect how and when physicians practise. That is why Cathy believes reliable coverage should be viewed as workforce infrastructure, not simply a solution for vacations or temporary vacancies.

“Can we create infrastructure that allows Canada to identify, hold, mobilize and preserve physician capacity across an entire career?” - Dr. Faulds

Better coverage can help physicians step away when they need to, keep experienced physicians contributing longer, and connect available capacity with communities that need it. This is the larger opportunity we see at LOCVM: not just making individual locum matches easier, but helping make physician capacity visible, flexible, and easier to mobilize across Canada.

Read Dr. Cathy Faulds’ full article on Substack: https://comitatusadmitto734627.substack.com