Ontario Adding 100 New Family Doctors in Rural and Northern Communities

[Palmerston, ON] — Today, Matthew Rae, MPP for Perth-Wellington, alongside the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Syliva Jones announced that internationally trained family physicians, through the Practice Ready Ontario program (PRO), would begin practicing in rural and northern communities starting in 2025. As part of the PRO, the Minto Mapleton Family Health Team will be welcoming one new family physician to their team.

“This another example of our government working to expand primary care access in rural Ontario,” said MPP Rae. “Whether it is family physicians or nurse practitioners, we are ensuring more people in Ontario have access to the care they need, closer to home. It is great to see local organizations like Minto Mapleton Family Health Team leading this charge.”

Through the Practice Ready Ontario program, foreign- trained doctors can become licensed more quickly and connect an additional 120,000 people to care, where and when they need it.

“Our government is continuing to take bold and innovative action to ensure everyone who wants a primary care provider can connect to one,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Through the Practice Ready Ontario program, we are taking another step to connect more people to world-class primary care right in their own communities, now and for years to come.”

“The Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team is excited to welcome Dr. Luzinga to our Team and the Family Health Organization,” said Shirley Borges, the Executive Director of Minto Mapleton Family Health Team. “Through the Government’s Practice Ready Ontario initiative, it is exciting that Dr. Luzinga will open her practice in Palmerston at the Minto Rural Health Centre and will be accepting new patients in our community who are without a primary care provider. Together, with our expanded nurse practitioner positions in Minto, more rural residents will be attached to a primary care provider and be able to access quality team-based care. The recruitment of Dr. Luzinga to Minto-Mapleton is a big win for our community.”

The Minto Mapleton FHT is proud to be early adopters of government initiatives that support attachment of patients to primary care providers,” said Jodi Colwill, Nurse Practitioner and Guelph Wellington Ontario Health Team Primary Care Network Lead. “We have worked hard to foster a high functioning team with a culture of mutual respect. With team members and providers working to their full scope and embracing digital advancements, we are able to maximize supportive care to our community and each other. We look forward to having Dr. Luzinga join our team and witness first-hand the amazing care that is being offered rurally.”

The province launched the Practice Ready Ontario in 2023 to bring more internationally trained physicians into Ontario’s health care workforce faster by removing the requirement to complete unnecessary re-education programs. Starting in 2025, up to 100 internationally trained physicians with training in family medicine who have completed their field assessment will begin practicing as a family doctor in northern and rural communities. Based on average attachment rates of family doctors, this means over 33,600 more people will be connected to primary care, in their community.

Each internationally educated physician who participates in the Practice Ready Ontario program is required to complete a 12-week assessment to ensure they have the skills and competencies needed to practice in Ontario. This program also requires physicians to complete a three-year return of service as a family doctor in a rural or northern community. To ensure they are prepared for their return of service, the assessment includes training in all aspects of rural family medicine across a variety of practice settings. This includes in office, hospital, emergency department, and long-term care and home care settings.

The new Practice Ready Ontario program builds on the considerable investments the government is making to close the gap for the remaining 10 per cent of people who want to connect to a primary care provider, including increasing the number of primary health care teams and making the largest expansion of medical schools in over a decade.

As announced in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement, the province is investing an estimated $88 million over three years to expand Learn and Stay grants for 1,360 eligible undergraduate students who commit to practice family medicine with a full roster of patients once they graduate. It is estimated the total investment will connect an additional 1.36 million people to primary care based on average attachment rates for family doctors. The funding will cover all tuition and other direct educational costs like books, supplies and equipment in exchange for a term of service as a physician in any community across Ontario.

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.

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Matthew Rae, MPP | 519-272-0660 | www.matthewrae.ca