Ontario invests $4.45 million to attach up to10,675 patients in Hastings and Prince Edward

7 July 2025

BELLEVILLE – As part of its $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan to connect everyone in Ontario to a publicly funded family doctor or primary care team, the Ontario Government is investing $4,456,100 this year to connect up to 10,675 people to primary care in Hastings and Prince Edward counties. This investment is part of the government’s Primary Care Action Plan that will help connect 300,000 people to primary care this year.

Eight primary care teams within the Hastings Prince Edward Ontario Health Team catchment area will establish a process to accept new patients and will communicate this to their local community.

These organizations include the Belleville and Quinte West Community Health Centre, Belleville’s Queen’s Family Health Team, the Prince Edward Family Health Team, the Lakeview Family Health Team, the Belleville Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic, the Gateway Community Health Centre, the Central Hastings Family Health Team, and the Bancroft Community Family Health Team.

“Reliable access to primary care is essential to the health and wellness of Hastings and Prince Edward residents, helping them navigate the health-care system and allowing them to be productive members of our communities. It also supports Quinte Health in providing acute and urgent care when we need it,” said Tyler Allsopp, MPP for Bay of Quinte. “I’m pleased to see our government has recognized and funded this collaborative, regional approach to attach patients to providers quickly.”

Added Ric Bresee, MPP for Hastings-Lennox and Addington: “Under Premier Ford’s Primary Care Action Plan, our $4.45 million investment in the Hastings Prince Edward Ontario Health Team will connect more residents in our region to a family doctor or interprofessional care team. By supporting the HPE OHT, we’re expanding access to comprehensive, community-based care – helping people get the treatment thy need closer to home, easing pressure on emergency departments and strengthening the health of families.”

The proposal 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.

The investment was well received locally.

“Research has shown that having a family physician has been shown to extend life expectancy. Having quality primary care reduces mortality from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and cancer. It also reduces hospital admissions and emergency department use. Connecting more residents to primary care will have a significant impact on the health of our communities. This investment brings us a step closer to achieving our goal of connecting all our community members to primary care,” said Dr. Robert Pincock, the Co-Lead of the Hastings Prince Edward Family Health Team Primary Care Network and a physician at the Queen’s Family Health Team.

Added Sheila Braidek, the Executive Director of the Belleville and Quinte West Community Health Centre: “We know that primary health care is the foundation of a strong meaningful health system. We’re very grateful for this investment; it’s an important next step in helping us achieve the HPE OHT goal of ensuring everyone in our communities has access to comprehensive, team-based care. Everyone – regardless of who they are or where they live – is entitled to primary health care that is responsive to their changing needs throughout their life.”

This 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.

“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.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES

“As a caregiver and Lead of the Patient Client Partner Council, I know firsthand how life-changing it is to have reliable access to primary care. Too many of our neighbours—over 35,000 people right here in Hastings and Prince Edward—don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner. This means they often go without important preventive care or end up in emergency rooms for things that could have been managed much earlier. This investment by the province, and the incredible teamwork of our local health partners, means that more people will be connected to care—close to home, in their own communities.”

Jane Wollenberg, Lead, HPE OHT Patient Client Partner Council

“On behalf of County Council and our residents, I would like to thank the Province of Ontario for providing this funding to our community. This support will help ensure more of our residents have access to primary care. The County of Prince Edward prioritizes the health and well-being of its residents. We will continue to bring forward initiatives aimed at providing more and more people in the community with opportunities to receive primary care.”

-Steve Ferguson, Mayor, Prince Edward County

“Hastings County is thrilled to see this investment toward primary care in our region, and I would like to thank the provincial government for investing in this critical health care need for our residents. I would like to thank MPPs Allsopp and Bresee for bringing this positive news this morning, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact of this funding in expanding access to local health care.

Bob Mullin, Warden, Hastings County