A new national survey shows that access to primary care in Canada is slowly improving, but nearly 6 million Canadians still lack regular access to a primary care professional.
The survey was conducted by St. Michael’s Hospital physician-researcher Dr. Tara Kiran in partnership with the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). The results showed that 81 per cent of respondents reported having a regular family doctor or nurse practitioner, an improvement from 77 per cent. However the results also show that 5.9 million people in Canada do not still have access to primary care.
“People in Canada believe everyone in this country should have access to high-quality primary care regardless of their background and where they live,” Kiran said in a press release. “Results from our survey show we are making progress towards this goal but that we still have a far way to go. I hope results from our survey motivate governments across the country to redouble their efforts to improve access to care and for people in this country to demand better.”
Access to primary care includes things like reliable access to regular family doctor, nurse practitioner, or primary care team. While the 5.9 million total is down from the 6.5-million recorded in last survey in 2022, Kiran said there are still concerns.
The results showed that more than one in five people in Canada do not have access to primary care while 22 per cent of the people in Canada do not have a family doctor or NP who they see regularly for care.
“These findings confirm what physicians and patients across Canada are experiencing daily,” CMA president Dr. Margot Burnell said in a press release. “While we’ve made progress, too many Canadians still face unacceptable barriers to primary care. We can do better. We know the solutions. Access to care for all Canadians is a realistic and achievable goal now.”
Despite this progress, the data reveals concerning gaps in access that vary substantially across demographic groups, with 87.7% of those 65 years and older reported having a regular clinician compared to 74.7%; 83.5% of women have a regular clinician, compared to just 79.4% of men and only 72.7% of those identifying as another gender; 84% of people earning $200,000 or more annually reported having a regular clinician compared to 69.6% of those earning less than $20,000
Even people with a family doctor or nurse practitioner reported challenges accessing care. For example, among those with a family doctor or nurse practitioner, only 37% said they could be seen the same or next day when they had an urgent concern, 25% .
The survey also reports data on access to health records, cultural safety and community accountability—elements of care that people said were important to them but are often overlooked in health system reporting. Strikingly, only 27.8% of respondents reported they were satisfied or very satisfied with how the primary care system in Canada is working.
Roughly 97 per cent of the survey respondents said it is important for everyone in Canada to have a family doctor, nurse practitioner or team of health professionals that can attend to them.
The 2025 OurCare National Survey was conducted in English and French online from April to July 2025 to assess how Canadians’ experiences with primary care align with the OurCare Standard—a framework outlining what everyone should expect from the system.
Developed with input from clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and patient advocates, the survey included 69 questions and drew responses from 22,308 adults, with analysis focused on 16,299 who completed it.
