‘We are making record investments to ensure that every patient in Ontario is connected to primary care by the end of 2029,’ said MPP Chris Scott
Nearly 2,000 Sault Ste. Marie residents will soon have access to primary care thanks to new funding from the province.
MPP Chris Scott announced a $539,000 funding package this morning, which will help bring 1,925 new patients aboard at the Superior Family Health Team.
The funding will go towards two new nurse practitioners, a patient navigator, and additional staff to help put a dent in the thousands of Sault Ste. Marie residents living without a primary care provider.
As part of the province’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan, today’s announcement came after one of three funding applications in Sault Ste. Marie were successful – with further intakes, and more funding, possible in the coming weeks and months.
“We are making record investments to ensure that every patient in Ontario is connected to primary care by the end of 2029,” Scott said.
“I’m really excited to announce Superior Family Health was successful in getting approved for $539,000 for this year.”
This round of funding targeted communities with the highest number of unattached patients – with Sault Ste. Marie eligible to put three proposals in.
The three proposals cover the city’s three different postal codes, with today’s funding going to help residents in the P6C postal codes – as well as any overflow from P6A.
“People in one particular area would be assigned to us through Healthcare Connect, and the other two proposals would be for different postal codes trying to cover across the entire city to make sure no area is left out,” said Alan McLean, physician lead at Superior Health.
Scott said he hopes today’s announcement is just “the beginning of the good news” for unattached patients in the Sault.
With some people waiting on Health Care connect for upwards of a decade, McLean said now is the time to get signed up.
“Until this announcement, I was basically telling people don’t even bother signing up, because nothing happens,” McLean said.
“But in the last few months, everyone I find without a family doctor, I say get on Healthcare Connect because that’s your way to get primary care.”
McLean expects the Health Team will be able to onboard about half of the new patients by year’s end, after hiring the newly funded staff complement in the coming months.
“This is a much needed investment to get people into primary care so they’re less sick when they go to hospital, less sick when they go to emerge, and hopefully don’t even have to go to the emergency department at all,” he said.