“We wanted to make sure people understood we have their backs, so, while they are taking care of everybody in the community, we are also going to make sure that it is not at their expense.”
It is a job perk that is also a sign of the times.
At The Ottawa Hospital, every staff member, physician and doctor trainee who needs one is being signed up with a family doctor. It is part of an innovative employee wellness program that is drawing attention from across Canada and is helping to significantly reduce mental-health leave among hospital employees.
A significant proportion of people who work at the hospital — similar to other Ontario residents — had no access to primary care before the family medicine program for staff launched in late 2023. Since then, more than 2,000 employees and medical staff have been assigned to family doctors who work in a dedicated clinic at the Riverside campus. The clinic was set up and is supported by the hospital through its wellness program. As the hospital takes on new employees, each individual who needs a family doctor will be matched with one when a space is available.
Officials with the wellness program say they hired family doctors who would not leave any orphaned patients in the community if they took the job nor would they stop working in other roles, such as in emergency departments. Many said they had been planning to retire early, to leave the province or to reduce the number of hours they worked in family medicine, and that working in the clinic in which most overhead costs were covered by the hospital was keeping them in family medicine. One official called it a “win-win,” saying the hospital’s clinic is adding family medicine capacity to the community.
Evening Update
Across the province, an estimated 2.5 million people do not have family doctors, according to the Ontario College of Family Physicians. That number is expected to grow without significant interventions. The proportion of people without primary care among The Ottawa Hospital’s 15,000 or so staff, physicians and residents is estimated to be similar to that across the province.
The family physician clinic is just part of a broader wellness program — including mental health, stress relief, peer support and social supports — that has been drawing attention and paying dividends for the hospital and its workers. It comes at a time when burnout and stress are growing concerns for health workers and are contributing to chronic staff shortages.
“If we can provide people with the support they need from a health-care perspective, including mental health and family medicine, and help reduce the hours that people are away sick, at the end of the day there are savings back into the system and we are more likely to retain or recruit people,” said Bryan Feenstra, the hospital’s director of people, health, wellness and engagement. “Our end goal is bettering patient care. We feel strongly that this is making us able to provide better patient care.”
In 2023-2024, The Ottawa Hospital recorded a decrease in the average duration of short-term disability related to mental health to 10 weeks from 20. A hospital spokesperson said that translated into almost three months of improved quality of health and life for people and their families. The hospital said it saved 180,000 work hours that year due to short-term disability related to mental health. The hospital also says it has seen a significant improvement in a “stress satisfaction index” that is part of a wellness survey, and there has been a reduction in the rates of injury and illness reported by survey respondents.
Family medicine is just part of the wellness program. The hospital also offers on-site psychological counselling with senior psychologist Dr. Kerri Ritchie as well as appointments with social workers and other supports. The hospital has set up wellness centres at the Civic, General and Riverside campuses where employees can use massage chairs or a stretching area in a relaxation room. The massage chairs have been in high demand and are also moved to parts of the hospital — such as intensive care units — where health workers might have a harder time getting away to use them.
The wellness initiative is based on the premise that health workers can’t provide the care patients need if their own health needs are not taken care of.
Ritchie calls caring for health workers an imperative that is similar to the so-called oxygen mask rule on airplanes. (The rule is put your own mask on before helping others because if you don’t you won’t be able to help others.)
“Many people have challenging jobs. We wanted to make sure people understood we have their backs, so, while they are taking care of everybody in the community, we are also going to make sure that it is not at their expense,” Ritchie said.
When the program began offering counselling sessions with Ritchie in 2022, they were booked right away.
For Emily Sharples, a senior project manager with the hospital, having counselling available with a respected hospital psychologist on-site made a huge difference.
She reached out to Ritchie after a year that included the death of her mother, the sudden death of her only sibling and her own serious health issues, including a cancer diagnosis.
Sharples said she had never used any of the hospital’s wellness offerings until she began to question whether she was coping.
She said speaking with someone who understood her job and work culture without having to explain it, being able to have an appointment where she worked, and taking part of a program that was clearly supported by the hospital made a huge difference.
“It is more accessible. All I had to do was request an appointment. It was super easy. Knowing senior leadership supports this as a priority really makes a difference.”
Without access to the wellness programs, Sharples said she probably would have taken time off work even though being at work gave her the structure she craved. But she didn’t. “I really attribute that to getting that timely check in and knowing it is there (if she needs it again).”
Staples does not use the family physician clinic, but said she knew from experience how valuable it was after managing a team of clerks, many of whom didn’t have primary care.
“That was number one for them. That alone has made a huge difference in peoples’ lives,” she said.
Other organizations and hospitals in the region are taking a close look at the program.
“When I am speaking with colleagues across Canada, they are amazed that we are able to offer this,” said Dr. Nathalie Fleming, an obstetrician/gynecologist who is medical director of physician health and wellness at TOH.
“The family physician clinic is quite innovative. We have other centres across the region wanting to replicate this,” Fleming said. “We have the attention of the Canadian Medical Association and other groups. We are really excited to share our knowledge with others.”
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