Ontario Connecting 6,902 More People to Primary Care in City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County

Issued on behalf of Laurie Scott, MPP, Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock

Ontario Connecting 6,902 More People to Primary Care in the City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County

$3,493,400.00 investment brings the province one step closer to connecting everyone in Ontario to primary care by 2029.

July 15, 2025

City of Kawartha Lakes — The Kawartha Lakes Haliburton Ontario Health Team (KLH-OHT), in collaboration with Kawartha North Family Health Team is going to receive over $3.4 million from the Ministry of Health to expand interprofessional primary health care teams. Our local plan will help to connect up to 6,902 people to primary care in the City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County. This investment is part of the government’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan that will help connect 300,000 people to primary care this year.

This initiative led by the Kawartha North Family Health Team will be adding new interprofessional teams in Coboconk, Woodville, and Minden. Today’s announcement builds on existing infrastructure to support healthcare providers and ensure more residents have timely access to team-based care close to home. The Kawartha Lakes Haliburton-Ontario Health Team will establish a process to accept new patients and will communicate this to their local community.

“This investment of over $3.4 million to expand primary care services in the City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County is a vital step toward connecting thousands of local residents to the care they deserve,” said MPP Laurie Scott. “By building on existing infrastructure and supporting all healthcare providers across the system, this initiative will strengthen team-based care and enhance access to publicly funded high-quality primary healthcare in underserved communities.”

The Kawartha North Family Health Team was funded through a recent call for proposals focused on communities – identified by postal code – with the highest number of residents not connected to primary care, including those on the Health Care Connect waitlist. Each successful team has established a plan to attach a high proportion of unattached people in their postal codes and demonstrated readiness to achieve significant progress within a year.

“This funding enables us to deliver on our community’s long-standing need for equitable, local access to high-quality primary care. It’s a game changer for patients, especially in our rural and underserved communities. We are especially proud of the collaborative effort that this proposal represents – the collective focus on improving access to care in our community will be highly impactful,” said Marina Hodson, Executive Director, Kawartha North Family Health Team.

The investment is part of the more than $2.1 billion the Ontario government is investing to support the Primary Care Action Plan that will add over 300 new primary care teams across the province. This includes $235 million in 2025-26 that in part is supporting over 130 new and expanded primary care teams across the province.

“This is a significant milestone in our journey towards fully integrated, team-based care for the Kawartha Lakes Haliburton region. The new interprofessional team hubs will expand the geographical reach of our primary care providers by working collaboratively with other health professionals, ensuring that every patient receives the right care, from the right provider, at the right time,” said Dr. Jacquelyn Choi, Primary Care Lead, KLH-OHT.

“We are continuing to build on our government’s record investments, which have helped secure Ontario the highest rate of access to a regular health-care provider in the country,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “We are protecting Ontario’s health-care system and people’s access to convenient care by funding new and expanded primary care teams across the province, helping connect everyone in Ontario to a primary care provider.” Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government continues to take bold and decisive action to grow the province’s highly skilled health care workforce and ensure people and their families have access to high-quality care closer to home for generations to come.

QUICK FACTS 

• Interprofessional primary care teams connect people to a range of health professionals that work together under one roof, including registered and registered practical nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, and pharmacists, helping patients to receive more connected and convenient care.
• Eligible teams not selected for funding in this round will be encouraged to refine and resubmit their proposals for the next call for proposals, which is expected to launch in September 2025.
• Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team, led by Dr. Jane Philpott, will implement its action plan supported by the government’s historic investment of more than $2.1 billion to connect approximately two million more people to a family physician or primary care team by 2029, which will achieve the government’s goal of connecting everyone in the province to primary care.
• The Ontario Government recently passed the Primary Care Act, 2025, which establishes primary care as the foundation of Ontario’s health-care system and sets out six clear objectives for Ontario’s publicly funded primary care system to ensure people know what they can expect when connecting to primary care.
• In 2024, Ontario invested $110 million in primary care teams across the province, helping to connect 328,000 more people to primary care close to home.

MEDIA CONTACT
Richard Ovcharovich
Legislative Assistant
Office of MPP Laurie Scott
Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock
705-324-6654
richard.ovcharovich@pc.ola.org