The Progressive Conservative government has announced $1.4 billion in new funding for an action plan to connect every person in Ontario with a primary care provider, just days before an early provincial election is set to be triggered.
The funding will help a team led by former federal health minister Dr. Jane Philpott implement its plan to create and/or expand 305 primary care teams throughout the province, which the government says will connect 300,000 more people to primary care this year.
The teams are typically made up of a family doctor or nurse practitioner working alongside other health-care professionals, such as nurses, physician assistants and dieticians.
The goal is to have everyone currently on the province’s waitlist for a family physician paired with a primary care provider by 2026, Philpott said.
“Ontario is embarking on a historic opportunity to build a primary care system where the guarantee of access to a primary care team is as automatic as a child being assigned to a school in their community,” Philpott said at a news conference Monday morning.
“This plan is ambitious, and the changes won’t happen overnight.”
Last October, the province announced that they had tapped Philpott to lead the newly created team with a mandate to connect every person in Ontario to a primary care provider within the next five years.
The announcement comes just two days before Premier Doug Ford is set to trigger a 28-day election campaign.
However, Health Minister and Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones denied the news was a campaign promise.
“The plan is in place, that work will continue, and we now have that opportunity to build that excitement,” she said.
The $1.4 billion is on top of $400 million in already-approved funding earmarked for improving primary care, the province said in a news release.