PHSSR Policy Roadmaps for Acting Early on NCDs Synthesis Report 2025

81 Acting early on NCDs The Partnership for Health System Sustainability and ResilienceCanada maintains a relatively balanced specialist-generalist ratio at approximately 53% specialists to 47% generalists (OECD, 2023a) yet still faces significant primary care access challenges. According to CIHI’s reporting of the 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey, 86% of Canadian adults had a regular healthcare provider, leaving about 4 million people lacking a regular healthcare provider (CIHI, 2024). Aggregate workforce ratios mask distributional problems and that workforce planning must consider not just numbers but deployment and productivity. Figure 18: Practising generalist doctors, specialist doctors and nurses per 1,000 population, 2015 and 2022 Notes: d = deviation from the definition. e = estimated value Source: OECD, 2023a. 3.555.284.322.83 3.184.772.98 d2.43 d2.45Specialist doctors 10.1812.083.84 d6.8112.185.826.08 b, e 9.918.4710.723.21 d5.49 e11.335.205.29 d, eNurses 1.261.410.960.410.89 d0.380.75 d CanadaFranceGermanyGreeceItalyJapanPolandSpainGeneralist doctors 2015 20221.481.822.65d2.70 1.411.701.94 1.331.371.030.461.050.870.95 d No formal system for General Practitioners, most patients go straight to specialist doctors for treatment