Ontario to add 400 new primary care providers to deal with staffing shortage

Ontario says it is investing $110 million in an effort to connect more than 300,000 people to primary care teams.

In Peterborough on Thursday morning, Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the new money will go toward the province’s attempts to get everyone in Ontario a primary care provider.

The province says $90 million will help add 400 new providers who will go to 78 new and expanded primary care teams.

Primary care teams consist of doctors, nurse practitioners, registered and practical nurses, physiotherapists and social workers, among others.

“Our government is making record investments to ensure that everyone that wants to have a primary care provider can connect to one,” said Jones. “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.”

The province says there are currently 1.3 million people in Ontario without a primary care provider, which includes nurse-practitioner led clinics.

The Ontario College of Family Physicians say there are 2.2 million Ontarians without a primary care doctor, a number that has grown significantly in recent years.