The Ontario government is putting $235 million into expanding access to family doctors and health care teams across the province this year. This is part of a larger $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan that aims to connect everyone in Ontario with a family doctor or primary care provider.
The plan will support more than 130 new and expanded primary care teams, which are expected to help about 300,000 people who currently don’t have access to a family doctor.
These care teams were chosen from areas with the most people without primary care, including those on the Health Care Connect waitlist. Each team has created a plan to connect more people with care quickly and has shown they are ready to make real progress within the next year.
Of the overall funding, $142 million will be used over three years to help recruit and keep health-care workers such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered practical nurses, and pharmacists.
The Ontario government says this is part of a bigger plan to make health care more convenient and closer to home, now and in the future.