Over 5,400 more Kawartha Lakes residents will be connected to a family doctor or nurse practitioner as a result of $1.8 million in provincial funding for the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team (CKLFHT).
Last Monday (April 20), Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott announced that CKLFHT will receive $1,834,000 in funding under the Ontario government’s Primary Care Action Plan.
“This funding is historic and our goal is to make it game-changing,” CKLFHT executive director Mike Perry told kawarthaNOW following the announcement.
$1.8 million in funding will connect 5,434 more people to primary care
The Ontario government established the Primary Care Action Plan in January 2025, with the aim to connect every person in Ontario to a primary care provider by 2029. Originally announced with $1.8 billion in funding, the 2026 budget expanded funding for the plan to $3.4 billion.
CKLFHT is one of the 124 family health teams in Ontario receiving funding through the plan’s latest call for proposals, which was launched last September.
Perry told kawarthaNOW that the $1.8 million in provincial funding will be used by CKLFHT primarily to hire two new family doctors and to increase the nursing and administrative cohort to increase patient capacity.
According to a media release from MPP Scott, the funding will connect 5,434 more people to primary care. CKLFHT will select new patients from the province’s Health Care Connect waitlist prioritizing currently unattached patients.
The proposal that brought over $1.8 million in funding to the City of Kawartha Lakes was a collaborative effort led by CKLFHT in partnership with the North Kawartha Family Health Team and Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes.
Family Health Teams (FHTs) were established in Ontario in 2005 and are funded through an annual provincial allotment based on patient and regional demographics. Teams consist of a range of professionals such as physicians, nurses, dieticians, and pharmacists.
“Family doctors can’t be experts in everything,” said Perry of the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to healthcare.
Primary care access reduces strain on wider healthcare system
CKLFHT has 17 doctors that work across six townships in collaboration with a large team of nurses, administrators, and other service providers. Perry said that working directly with social workers, pharmacists, and other health specialists streamlines the referral process and ensures continuity of care.
Perry spoke about the importance of primary care in reducing strain and pressure on the wider healthcare system, saying that when patients have routine access to preventative care they are less likely to need emergency services.
“The more patients we can take on, the more we can divert from emergency care,” he said.
Perry explained the role of CKLFHT as “being the point of first contact for healthcare system” and providing timely and appropriate direction for patients to reduce use of emergency services.
Patients experience many benefits from having a consistent primary care provider such as early and preventative treatment, access to specialist referrals, and general continuity of care.
In addition to its team of primary care providers, CKLFHT also operates a once-weekly walk-in clinic for unattached OHIP-eligible patients through a clinic at 55 Angeline Street North in Lindsay, treating mild ailments and providing services such as issuing prescription refills, as well as an after-hours clinic for urgent medical care.
For Perry, one goal of CKLFHT is to provide local residents with options for healthcare that are suited to their needs and not a consequence of their situation.
“You do what you have to do, so we want to present as many options as we can,” he said.
Similar sentiments were expressed in Monday’s media release by Ryan Alexander, chief executive officer of Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes, who said that this funding “strengthens the role of primary care as a cornerstone of an effective and sustainable healthcare system.”
Provincial funding to improve primary care access in rural communities
The jurisdiction served by CKLFHT is widespread, including numerous small rural communities that do not have local practices or significant shortages. Perry said that it is important for everyone to be able to access healthcare in their home community.
“When we have to travel to care, we are more likely to put it off or cancel,” he said.
CKLFHT has clinic spaces in Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon, Omemee, Woodville, Little Britain, and Lindsay. This enables their team to work with primary care providers across the disparate City of Kawartha Lakes region.
Perry said CKLFHT also provides specialist clinics, such as mental health counselling and foot care, at each location on a rotating basis.
For Perry, this provincial funding is an important step in ensuring equitable access to healthcare for all Ontarians by ensuring that professional teams and resources are available locally to everyone, regardless of their location.
“One of our priorities is healthcare where we live,” he said.
Furthermore, as this funding comes from a joint proposal, by its nature, it prioritizes collaboration among local resources to provide cohesive care with local referrals and collaborations.
Perry cited the Kawartha North Family Health Team, Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes, Ross Memorial Hospital, and the Alzheimer Society Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland & Haliburton as “valued partners” in the CKLFHT’s work.
Challenges remain with recruiting healthcare professionals
While Perry said CKLFHT is thankful to the Ontario government for the new funding, he noted the province still has more work to do to support access to primary care, especially in rural communities such as those in the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Perry said a significant factor in the physician shortage in rural regions of the province is the challenge of recruiting new talent to these communities, adding “We still have to find and recruit professionals.”
Perry further said that registered nurses and other non-doctor professionals at family health teams may earn up to 30 per cent less than their peers in non-primary care sectors, such as hospital-based professionals, leading to difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff across the primary care sector.
He added the Ontario government should invest additional funding to “bridge the compensation gap.”
As for Kawartha Lakes residents who do not have a regular primary care provider, Perry encourages them to register for Health Care Connect online or by calling 811, or to contact CKLFHT locally at 705-328-9853.
