Ontario Connecting More People to Primary Care Teams in York-Simcoe

February 13, 2024

York-Simcoe — The Ontario government is investing $1.4 million to connect more people to primary care teams in Georgina. This is part of Ontario’s $110 million investment to connect up to 328,000 people to primary care teams, bringing the province one step closer to connecting everyone in Ontario to primary care.

“This significant investment is exactly what the residents of Keswick and Georgina need. Access to primary healthcare will be closer to home,” said Caroline Mulroney, MPP for York-Simcoe, “This is a critical step towards improving healthcare access for everyone in York-Simcoe and across the province.”

Ontario currently leads the country with 90 percent of people connected to a regular health care provider. As a next step to close the gap for people not connected to primary care in the community, the province is supporting new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams in Georgina.

The $1.4 million allocated to a new location will bring together healthcare providers under one roof and serve 2,730 patients in Keswick and the surrounding area.

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.

“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 hundreds of thousands of more Ontarians the opportunity to connect to primary care brings us that much closer to this goal.”

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.

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.

Quick Facts:

As a next step to close the gap for the 1.3 million people not connected to primary care in the province, the government is making a record investment of $90 million to add over 400 new primary care providers as part of 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams. The new and expanded teams will include Family Health Teams, Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics, Community Health Centres and Indigenous Primary Health Care Organizations.
Ontario’s investment of $90 million dollars triples the original $30 million dollars earmarked to expand interprofessional primary care teams and will deliver over four times as many initiatives as outlined in our Your Health Plan almost a year ago.
Ensure the residents of Keswick/Georgina have timely access to primary care. The new and expanded teams are the result of a province-wide call for proposals that took place in 2023. All proposals were thoroughly reviewed by Ontario Health based on criteria prioritizing areas of greatest need, to connect a greater number of people currently without a regular primary care provider with these services closer to home.
Ontario is the first province to have a publicly funded Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic program. This is in addition to the new Practice Ready Ontario Program that will add 50 new physicians this year.

Ontario leads the country in how many people benefit from a long-term, stable relationship with a family doctor or primary care provider. Since 2018 the province has added over 80,000 new nurses and 10,300 new physicians to the health care system.
Ontario invests over $1 billion in interprofessional primary care teams annually.

Quotes:

“Connecting residents with the healthcare they need is crucial at all stages of life. It’s important to residents and this Council. When this term of Council was elected, healthcare was identified as a key priority in the development of our Strategic Plan. Today’s announcement is such good news for our community and we appreciate this support.”
~Mayor Margaret Quirk

“This important investment will help connect more residents in Northern York Simcoe to a regular healthcare provider. By expanding multidisciplinary teams who come together to plan and coordinate people’s care, our government is helping ensure better health outcomes for our community members.”

~ Dawn Gallagher Murphy, PA to the Minister of Health and MPP of Newmarket-Aurora

“This investment is a game-changer for primary care in our communities and Southlake strongly supports the Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team pursuit to establish an Interprofessional Primary Care team to improve care in our catchment area. It’s critical that we strengthen the relationship among physicians, primary and social care providers in the community with hospitals to better serve patients in the most appropriate care setting to meet their needs.”

~ Paul Woods MD, President and CEO, Southlake Regional Health Centre

“This funding marks a significant milestone in our commitment to enhancing the overall well-being for the residents of Georgina and surrounding areas. Our Interprofessional Primary Care team will play a crucial role in providing accessible, comprehensive healthcare to unattached patients across the region. We thank the Ontario government for this recognition, which will help foster lasting relationships between patients and providers, ultimately contributing to a healthier and more resilient local healthcare system.”

~ Christina Bisanz, Co-Chair, Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team

“Today’s announcement is critical in helping connect York Region residents to primary care close to home. The Regional Municipality of York is proud to work collaboratively with our partners, the community and all levels of government to identify innovative and efficient ways of delivering services to meet the needs of all residents, including those experiencing homelessness.”

~ Wayne Emmerson, Chairman and CEO, The Regional Municipality of York

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MEDIA CONTACT Marisa Patricelli marisa.patricelli@pc.ola.org 905-895-1555