Ontario Building and Expanding 16 Teaching Clinics to Connect 300,000 More People to Primary Care

TORONTO — The Ontario government is investing up to $8 million to support planning for 16 new and expanded primary care teaching clinics across the province to connect 300,000 more people to primary care. This investment is part of the government’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan to connect everyone in Ontario to primary care by 2029.

"We are well on track to connect every resident in King and Vaughan to primary care by 2029," said Stephen Lecce, MPP for King—Vaughan. "Just this Fall, I was proud to announce how our government is connecting 5,000 additional residents in King-Vaughan to a primary care provider in partnership with the Vaughan Community Health Centre. With the addition of 16 new primary care teaching clinics, we are training the next generation of healthcare professionals to serve families in King and Vaughan."

Each teaching clinic will receive up to $500,000 to support planning work. In partnership with Ontario’s medical schools, these clinics will train family medicine residents in a team-based model alongside other health-care professionals, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and registered nurses. These clinics will offer training that combines direct patient care with hands-on learning in team-based environments, all while providing primary care for an additional 300,000 people. Initial teaching clinics are targeted to open in 2027-28, with further expansion to follow.

“These new primary care teaching clinics will further protect our health-care system by training the next generation of primary care clinicians, right here in Ontario,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “This builds on our government’s unprecedented investments in primary care that will ensure anyone who wants to connect to a primary care clinician can have reliable access to primary care, no matter where they live.”

This funding is part of the government’s broader investment of up to $300 million – part of the $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan – to build new and expanded community-based primary care teaching clinics in areas with high rates of unattachment. In addition to funding planning grants for 16 new and expanded teaching clinics, two new primary care teaching clinics at Toronto Metropolitan University will bring the total to 18 clinics. Together with other historic investments in new medical school seats, creating over 130 new and expanded primary care teams and adding nearly 20,000 new physicians to the health-care system, these initiatives are helping to connect Ontario families to primary care, beginning with clearing the Health Care Connect waitlist as of January 1, 2025. As of this week, that waitlist has been reduced by more than 75 per cent.

“Hands-on learning is critical to ensuring our health care students can hit the ground running and provide exceptional care upon graduation,” said Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. “The new and expanded primary care clinics will not only equip our future doctors and nurses with the skills they need to thrive, but also connect more people in Ontario to compassionate health care, close to home.”

“This investment in critical infrastructure will strengthen team-based primary care in Ontario,” said Dr. Jane Philpott, Chair of Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team. “These new teaching clinics will train the next generation of family physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other health professionals to work in teams while delivering vital care to patients who currently lack access.”

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

• In September, the Ontario government announced a $250 million investment to launch a call for proposals to create and expand approximately 75 primary care teams in 2026-27 that will connect 500,000 more people to primary care.

• The call for proposals for new and expanded teams will be used to identify Interprofessional Care Teams (IPCTs) that can partner with medical schools to provide team based clinical support for primary care teaching clinics.

• Ontario currently has 39 primary care teaching clinics across the province where medical residents train to become family doctors. Family medicine residents typically spend two or more years training at a teaching clinic before graduation.

• The government is investing in the largest medical school education expansion in more than a decade by adding 340 undergraduate seats and 551 postgraduate positions by 2028-29, representing a 67 per cent increase in family medicine graduates per year.

• Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team is drawing on best-in-class models of care to implement its action plan, supported by the government’s investment of more than $2.1 billion to connect approximately two million more people to primary care by 2029, which will achieve the government’s goal of connecting everyone in the province to primary care.

• Since 2018, Ontario has added nearly 20,000 additional physicians to its health-care workforce, including an over 14 per cent increase in family doctors.

• Ontario is taking significant steps to strengthen its health-care workforce by making it easier for U.S.-licensed nurses and board-certified physicians to move to and practise in Ontario. So far this year, over 1,700 nurses and more than 450 doctors from the US have already chosen Ontario.

  
  

Additional Resources

• Ontario Marks One Year Milestone in Primary Care Action Plan

• Ontario Connecting 500,000 More People to a Family Doctor and Primary Care Team

• Ontario Connecting Over 300,000 People to Primary Care Teams

• Ontario Taking Next Steps to Protect Primary Care

• Ontario Investing Over $1.8 Billion to Connect Every Person in Ontario to a Family Doctor and Primary Care Teams

• Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care

MEDIA CONTACT                                                                                              

Stephen Lecce, MPP for King—Vaughan

Constituency Office

Tel.: 647-560-9700        

Email: Stephen.Lecce@pc.ola.org