The 2011 National Physician Survey describes a physician population in Canada struggling with an increasingly complex patient caseload. 

Demands on physician time have resulted in longer wait times for appointments and more practice restrictions. These data were presented as part of a general report on Canadian health care, in which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provides a wide range of health care statistics collected from its member countries.

The report acknowledges that over the past 5 years the number of doctors per capita in Canada has increased rapidly; from 2.1 per 1000 population in 2004 to 2.4 in 2009, but points out that this remains well below the OECD average of 3.1 physicians per 1000 population. This is despite a high level of health expenditures—Canada ranks sixth among OECD countries in per capita spending.

The report also indicates that Canada still lags behind other countries in the supply of MRI and CT machines, and in the number of available curative care hospital beds. 

OECD Health Data 2011 and a link to the country report on Canada can be found at www.oecd.org/health/healthdata [8].