Ontario Investing Over $1.9 Million For Primary Health Care Teams in Windsor-Essex
NEWS April 18th , 2024
Windsor— The Ontario government is investing $1,979,761 to connect more people to primary care teams in Windsor-Essex through the Canadian Mental Health Association – Windsor-Essex County Branch. 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 investment by the Ontario government under the leadership of Premier Ford and Minister Jones, will significantly grow our primary care capacity in Windsor-Essex and serve nearly 8000 additional residents in our community,” said Andrew Dowie, Member of Provincial Parliament for Windsor–Tecumseh.
“This funding will expand primary care access with investments in human health resources and extend the outreach for the Mobile Medical Support (MMS) team,” said Nicole Sbrocca, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association – Windsor-Essex County Branch. “The MMS is a mobile healthcare clinic that has successfully provided episodic primary care, preventative care, and wraparound services to a variety of vulnerable, high risk, underserved populations across Windsor-Essex County.”
Ontario currently leads the country with 90 per cent 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 the expansion of interprofessional primary care teams in Windsor-Essex.
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.
· 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.
Further Quotes:
“The Canadian Mental Health Association – Windsor-Essex County Branch (CMHA-WECB) is delighted by this community funding announcement that will expand the services of our Health Centre along with several community partners, to connect more people to primary care in our community,” said Nicole Sbrocca, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association – Windsor-Essex County Branch.
“We look forward to collaborating with our community partners in the development and implementation of this community funding to enhance and expand programs and services to create more access and improve health outcomes across Windsor-Essex County.”
Additional Resources:
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Media Contact:
Mike Lesperance
Special Assistant,
Andrew Dowie, MPP, Windsor-Tecumseh
Ph: 519-251-5199 Cell: 226-724-6978
Email: michael.lesperance@pc.ola.org