The Government of Ontario has announced that they are investing just over $834,000 this year to connect 2,400 people in the Hamilton area to a publicly funded family doctor or primary care team.
The funding is part of the government’s $2.1-billion Primary Care Action plan, which seeks to connect everyone in Ontario to a doctor or care team.
The province is aiming to connect 300,000 people to primary care this year.
The Greater Hamilton Health Network is working in partnership with Primary Care Network Partners to oversee a local strategy to connect those who are currently without care.
The Hamilton Family Health Team Inc. will be receiving the funding. They applied through a recent call for proposals from the province.
The province is specifically targeting communities with the highest number of residents not connected to primary care, as identified by postal code.
A government press release says that the Hamilton Family Health Team will be focused on the L0R postal code.
That postal code includes much of rural Hamilton, east Haldimand County, and the northwest Niagara Region.
The postal code includes communities such as Binbrook, Beamsville, Carlisle, Copetown, Freelton, Hannon, Jerseyville, Lynden, Millgrove, Rockton, Smithville, Vineland, and Wellandport.
The province says that the Hamilton Family Health Team “has established a plan and demonstrated readiness to achieve significant progress within a year.”
Their attachment team will reportedly be managing outreach and matching patients to care teams, which can include healthcare professionals such as nurses, psychiatrists, pharmacists, dieticians, mental health counsellors, and other health professionals.
The province says that patients will be matched based on location and preference.
Neil Lumsden, the Member of Provincial Parliament for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, said in a press release, “Our government is working with local partners to connect more people in Hamilton to primary care services.”
“This new provincial funding will give community health providers, such as the Hamilton Family Health Team, the kickstart needed to ensure that everyone in our city has the healthcare services and support that they deserve.”
Melissa McCallum, the Executive Director of the Greater Hamilton Health Network, says that the government’s investment “is just the beginning of a broader plan to ensure everyone across the Greater Hamilton area can count on timely, connected, and compassionate care right where they live.”
The investment is part of the province’s plan to add over 300 new primary care teams across the province, including 130 in 2025-26, supported by $235 million over the next year.
Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team, which is led by former federal Liberal Cabinet Minister Dr. Jane Philpott, is working on implementing the $2.1-billion plan, which seeks to connect approximately two million people to primary care by 2029.
The government says that eligible teams that were not selected for funding in this round of applications are encouraged to “refine and resubmit their proposals for the next call for proposals, which is expected to launch in September 2025.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
