The province says it’s on track to hit a key milestone with record investments to connect more residents to primary care teams and family doctors.
As of this week, the Ontario government says it’s marking a major step in its $2.1 billion primary care action plan.
As a first step, officials say the province committed to connecting 235,000 people on the Health Care Connect waitlist as of Jan. 1, 2025, by spring 2026 – and as of this week, the initial waitlist has been reduced by half. Officials say this means the province will meet its initial commitment as of next spring.
“By reducing the Health Care Connect waitlist, our government is keeping our commitment to connect everyone in Ontario to primary care,” said Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones. “We’re going to continue delivering record investments and improvements to Ontario’s health-care system so we can connect everyone in the province to primary care by 2029.”
HCC helps connect Ontarians who don’t have a family doctor, nurse practitioner or primary-care team to a primary-care clinician.
“Reducing the Health Care Connect waitlist from January 1 by over 50 per cent is a major milestone and demonstrates tangible progress in connecting more people to ongoing care,” said Dr. Jane Philpott, chair of the province’s primary care action team. “This reflects the dedication of clinicians and teams across the province who are working tirelessly to attach patients and expand access to comprehensive, connected and convenient care.”
“Unprecedented investments” have been key in reducing waitlists over the past 10 months, according to the province.
Back in June, the province announced $235 million to fund more than 130 new and expanded primary care teams to help connect more than 300,000 people – and the government also recently announced $250 million to add about 75 new and expanded teams to help 500,000 Ontarians connect to primary care, reads a recent release.
Starting this year, the province said it is also investing more than $22 million over two years to support Ontario Health Teams and their Primary Care Networks in attaching patients to care, such as getting patients up-to-date with medication reviews, cancer screening and gathering up-to-date medical history, ensuring high-quality care can be delivered from Day 1.
