BARRIE — The Ontario government is investing more than $9.8 million to connect up to 34,000 people to primary care teams in Simcoe, Bruce and York Regions. This is part of Ontario’s $110 million investment to connect up to 328,000 people across the province to primary care teams, bringing the province one step closer to connecting everyone in Ontario to primary care.
“Our government is making record investments to ensure that everyone that wants to have a primary care provider can connect to one,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “While there is more work to do, giving tens of thousands of more Ontarians in the region the opportunity to connect to primary care brings us that much closer to this goal.”
Ontario currently leads the country with 90 per cent of people connected to a regular health care provider. As a next step to close the gap for the people not connected to primary care in the region, the province is supporting 10 new or expanded interprofessional primary care teams in Simcoe, Bruce and York regions to connect up to 34,000 Ontarians with primary care teams and provide services including:
- Creating an Indigenous primary care team to serve the community in Barrie, including a mobile clinic.
- Connecting those without a primary care provider to a Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic in Innisfil.
- Expanded access to primary care and mental health services for people in Huntsville.
- Establishing two satellite clinics serving vulnerable populations in Couchiching, Orillia and the North Simcoe area.
- Establishing a clinic in Collingwood to connect patients to primary care, including marginalized patients and those needing mental health and addictions supports.
- Establishing a new Indigenous primary care team to serve patients in the Saugeen First Nation.
- Creating a new Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic in Owen Sound.
- Connecting patients to primary care and allied health services via a mobile clinic in the Bruce peninsula.
- Establishing a clinic to provide primary care and social services to those experiencing homelessness in northern York Region.
Interprofessional primary care teams connect people to a range of health professionals that work together under one roof, including doctors, nurse practitioners, registered and practical nurses, physiotherapists, social workers and dietitians, among others. Timely access to primary care helps people stay healthier for longer with faster diagnosis and treatment, as well as more consistent support managing their day-to-day health while relieving pressures on emergency departments and walk-in clinics.
The record investment of $90 million will add over 400 new primary care providers and 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams across the province. In addition to other historic investments to expand medical school spots and efforts to break down barriers so highly-skilled internationally-trained doctors can care for people in Ontario, Ministry of Health modelling shows that these initiatives will help connect up to 98 per cent of people in Ontario to primary care in the next several years.
An additional $20 million will provide a boost to all existing interprofessional primary care teams to help them meet increased operational costs for their facilities and supplies so that they continue to provide high-quality care to the people they provide care to.
Since the launch of Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care one year ago, the government has been making steady progress to ensure the health care system has become better equipped to respond to the needs of patients and provide them with the right care in the right place, faster access to services and access to an expanded health care workforce.