A majority of Ontarian’s believe the health care crisis is worse now than it was a year ago, a new poll conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has revealed.

“Ontarians recognized the cracks in our health care system run much deeper than access to a family doctor and demonstrated concern for increased wait times, diagnostic imaging, specialist appointments, and surgeries,” the OMA said in a press release Monday.

“Additionally, the majority of Ontarians recognized this government has not delivered on its promise to end hallway medicine,” the press release said.

The new findings come just ten days before the voters head to the polls to vote in Ontario’s upcoming provincial election. Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the snap election at the end of last month.

“By the end of their term, Liberals left $1.8 million Ontarians without a family doctor. Doug Ford promised to end the Liberal legacy of hallway healthcare, but after seven years he’s only made it worse,” the Ontario NDP said in response to the new poll in a press release Feb. 17.

On Feb. 12, the Ontario Liberal Party outlined its plan to end “hallway healthcare,” with leader Bonnie Crombie committing to invest in healthcare workers and infrastructure.

“I’ve received emails from people who have watched other patients die in a hallway, from a daughter whose mother passed away from being forced out of an overcrowded hospital too soon, from far, far too many who cannot find a family doctor,” Crombie said.

“Enough is enough,” she said.

Just before the snap election was called at the end of last month, Ontario’s PC government announced it will be investing $1.4 billion to connect patients with publicly funded doctors or a primary care team.

This investment included an additional $400 million in funding that has already been approved for primary care.

“Together we will build a primary care system that is comprehensive, convenient, and connected for every single person in Ontario,” said Dr. Jane Philpott, leader of Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team, in the investment announcement.

“In every community, your primary care team will be your front door to care, where you have a team of clinicians providing care you can access in a timely way, close to home,” Dr. Philpott said.

The OMA poll showed that 60 per cent of Ontarians say the health care system is worse now than it was a year ago and 83 per cent agree that wait times for surgeries, specialist appointments and diagnostic tests have worsened.

Nearly six in 10 Ontarians (59 per cent) said the government has not fulfilled its promise to end hallway medicine, the poll also found.

“These numbers confirm what doctors see every day: the crisis in health care is getting worse, not better,” said Dr. Dominik Nowak, president of the OMA.

“Ontarians deserve timely access to doctors, specialists, and emergency care. Health care is a severe concern for Ontarians and should be a top priority this election,” Dr. Nowak added.

Methodology – Fieldwork was conducted between Feb. 6-7, 2025. A total of n=501 Ontarians aged 18+ participated in the survey which was fielded via the Ipsos’ panel. Quotas and weighting were used to ensure the sample’s composition reflects that of the Ontario population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online surveys is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the survey is accurate to within +/- 5.4 per cent 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had all Ontario adults 18+ been surveyed. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.