$1.2 Million to Increase Local Primary Care
July 23, 2025NORTH BAY — Vic Fedeli, MPP for Nipissing announced the Ontario Government is investing $1.2 million this year to connect up to 1,950 people to primary care in Nipissing. This investment is part of the government’s Primary Care Action Plan that will help connect 300,000 people across the province to primary care.
“Our government has been making historic investments to protect our health care system, taking bold and innovative action to make it easier for patients and families to connect to care,” said MPP Vic Fedeli. “Our investment in primary care is another way we are growing our province’s highly skilled workforce and ensuring people and families have access to high-quality care, closer to home, for generations to come.”
Local funding includes:
- $477,800 to North Bay Nurse Practitioner – Led Clinic Inc. to connect 1075-1200 patients with a primary care team. The North Bay Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic is proposing to increase attachment in a two-phased approach. In phase one, they are proposing the addition of 1 Full-Time Equivalent Nurse Practitioner and 1 Full-Time Equivalent Registered Practical Nurse and are looking to attach 200-300 patients within the P1A Forward Sortation Area. In phase two, they are planning to leverage additional administrative staff and digital tool integration to increase front line clinical time for new and existing providers, which would enable them to attach between 1000-1200 patients. They will also be hiring a medical receptionist with this funding to support connecting patients to their clinic and ensuring timely access to appointments.
- $714,700 to the North Bay Indigenous Hub – Giiwedno Mshkikiiwgamig to connect 675-750 patients with a primary care team. The expanded team will offer more visits to communities including Nipissing First Nation, Dokis First Nation and Temagami First Nation, as well as roster Indigenous patients that are on the wait list from North Bay. To further meet the needs of their Indigenous population, the team plans to secure unattached patients through the support of the hospital, local Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic, and the local Primary Care Network group, who have Indigenous identified patients on their waitlist as well. Further, the North Bay Indigenous Hub will continue to roster Indigenous newborns and new mothers without primary care, as well as increase awareness in the community through advertising and community engagement events to share information about rostering.
These primary care teams were 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.
“We are grateful for the recent investments to expand primary care teams in Ontario, which will significantly enhance access to timely, high quality for many unattached patients. This additional funding will allow our clinic to connect more patients with a Nurse Practitioner and have access to additional services delivered by our dedicated interdisciplinary health care team! We look forward to expanding our reach in the community and welcoming more new patients to the clinic in the coming months!” – Jaymie-lynn Blanchard, NP-PHC, MScN Clinic Director & Nurse Practitioner with the North Bay Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic.
“The North Bay Indigenous Hub is happy to receive some expansion funding to support the attachment of more Indigenous patients in the Nipissing district. This will allow us to hire an Indigenous health care provider and professionals to support the health needs our growing population and to support them in a culturally safe way.” – Laureen Linklaker-Pizzale, Eniigaanzid Meyaawsed / Ka Nikani Okimawiwit / Exceutive Director, North Bay Indigenous Hub/Giiwedno Mshikiiwgamig.
Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team, led by Dr. Jane Philpott will implement the Primary Care Action Plan supported by our government’s investment of more than $2.1 billion to connect approximately two million more people to a family physician or primary care team by 2029. This funding includes $235 million in 2025-26 that in part is supporting over 130 new and expanded primary care teams across the province and the action plan that will add over 300 new primary care teams across the province.
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.
- 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.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION