Funding hopes to reduce number of Lakeshore Ont. residents without family doctor

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]A boost for healthcare access in the region. New provincial funding is helping three county clinics expand services. As CTV's Bob Bellacicco reports, up to 4,000 people without a doctor could soon be connected to care.

[00:00:16]Everybody should have a family doctor.

[00:00:18]Everyone is entitled to that.

[00:00:20]>> In Lakeshore, there are both 5,600 residents that don't have a family doctor.

[00:00:24]>> We have received funding to attach around 1,300 - 1,400 of that.

[00:00:29]>> The Ontario government is investing 1.4 million dollars to advance the primary care action plan. The province's action plan calls for every person to be attached to a family doctor. The goal is to attach 4,000 residents by May of 2027. Adding nurse practitioners, uh registered nurses, social work, and offering more services to the community.

[00:00:53]According to officials at the Lakeshore Community Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic, three clinics have received money to expand however they see fit to fill some of the needs in the community. This is very much a collaborative proposal. So, we're very much partners with Amherstburg and Harrow, um and we're working on that 4,000 person goal collaboratively.

[00:01:10]>> The Amherstburg Family Health Team is going to add a nurse practitioner and collaborate with Harrow to add a new physio program.

[00:01:16]>> To bring in those staff to offer those uh services, we'd be able to help uh not only the 10,000 patients that we serve in Amherstburg, but also offer um to to attach more patients as well. In Harrow, a new physician and nurse practitioner will be added along with the expansion of some allied health positions, including a pharmacist and dietitian. We are very excited to be able to offer the additional hours to to our existing patients and be rostering those new patients with this funding.

[00:01:45]Some of that funding will extend beyond the three communities and help the people here in McGregor where today the clinic is closed. For the service, the availability, the uh people don't have to drive as much, especially they're elderly, things like that, or they don't have the transportation that's required, and it would be a big help, for sure. Bob Bellacicco, CTV News.