Western faculty unions call on school to do more to alleviate London's doctor shortage
Move to bump patients from employee family clinic will only add to problem, they say
Faculty unions at Western University and its affiliated colleges are continuing to push back on the school's decision to restrict access to its employee and family health clinic, saying it should be expanding access, not exacerbating London's doctor shortage.
Earlier this year, CBC News reported the university was bumping patients from the clinic's roster who weren't full-time main campus employees, citing limited treatment capacity and a growing waitlist.
Full-time faculty at Huron and King's university colleges, part-time and contract Western employees, and full-time Western employees with fixed-term contracts can no longer use the clinic as of mid-August, along with full-time employees who retired after February 2025.
The new rules also limit eligibility to full-time main campus employees and immediate family who don't have a family doctor within 30 kilometres of London.
The faculty unions claim those impacted weren't consulted about the change, and say Western hasn't "adequately considered the role it can play in working towards a solution."
"With a leading medical school, Western should be expanding access by leveraging its teaching clinics and civic footprint to ease the city's burden, not intensify it," the unions say in an online campaign form, using McMaster University's Family Health Team as an example.
In January, one local official involved in recruiting doctors estimated that at least 100,000 Londoners don't have a primary care physician.
The waitlist for Western's own clinic demonstrates the need, the unions say. It numbers around 250 employees and their dependents. Roughly 2,700 patients were on the clinic roster in March, Western says.
"De-rostering a lot of patients from the Western clinic is actually going to cause more problems in the community," said Johanna Weststar, president of the University of Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA).
"Given Western has a medical school, and has this clinic set up already, there are likely some creative solutions to be had there (to increase capacity) in consultation with all three universities, perhaps in consultation with the City of London," she said.
UWOFA alone has roughly 100 full-time members on fixed-term contracts, and about 300 on part-time contracts, she said. The larger group of concern is future retirees, who now have to find a doctor at a later stage of their lives.
In a statement, a Western spokesperson said the school had run and subsidized the clinic for over 20 years to serve full-time employees and their families, while reducing pressure on the surrounding region.
The clinic had made efforts to support as many additional patients as possible over the years, but without access to "any of the primary care funding models available in community practice … we must prioritize those it was originally meant to serve," it adds.
While some Huron and King's staff may have accessed the clinic, they aren't employed by Western, and there's no longer capacity to continue the service, the statement said.
More than 800 people were contacted by the clinic about losing access, Western told CBC News in March. At least 600 had not accessed the service in the last two years.
"Our faculty, students and alumni ... are integrated with local hospitals and clinics, actively working to improve the health and wellbeing of thousands in our community – not to mention a number of university-operated clinics serving the London community."
The faculty unions allege patients were removed "unilaterally and without any direct interaction or communication," in violation of regulator policy around ending physician-patient relationships.
"Western has a lot of money, a lot of resources. I think they're always going to be judged by a high standard in terms of looking at a situation like this," said Lad Kucis, a partner at Toronto-based Gardiner Roberts LLP specializing in health law.
"If they want to downsize, I can see there may be some rationale for it, but they still have an obligation to deal with their existing patients that were there in the past."
While Western is making the decisions, any regulatory complaint would fall on the clinic's physicians, he said. At the same time, it's incumbent on the physicians to ensure Western is compliant.
Some negative optics may stem from Western's major healthcare presence, with its medical school and hospital connections, making it important that it do everything it can to assist impacted patients.
"The clinic has communicated directly with patients and all communications have adhered to the appropriate regulations," Western said in a statement Thursday.
The school adds it's offered ineligible patients six months' notice to remain in the clinic's care, and is "working diligently to provide space for all eligible employees while also providing support to ineligible patients in finding alternative care."
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