KITCHENER — Provincial funding aimed at connecting Ontarians with family doctors and primary-care teams is already changing how residents in Kitchener access routine medical services, officials said this week.
Local teams receiving significant provincial support
During a stop in Kitchener on Aug. 14, Premier Doug Ford highlighted the progress made under the province’s Primary Care Action Plan, a $3.4-billion initiative to link everyone in Ontario to a family physician, nurse practitioner or primary-care team by 2029.
Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo, one of the local teams funded through the plan, received more than $1 million under the 2025–26 call for proposals. The team began attaching patients last August and has already connected nearly 3,000 patients — roughly 140 per cent of its original target of 2,115.
Regional reach and partners
The province said three primary-care teams serving the Kitchener area have together linked close to 7,700 patients to care. Alongside Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo, the other funded organisations in the region are the Waterloo Region Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic and the New Vision Family Health Team.
Combined provincial support to those three providers exceeds $3.2 million, and officials reported the groups have achieved almost 98 per cent of their attachment targets to date.
| Provider | Provincial funding (2025–26) | Patients attached | Target met |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo | Over $1 million | Nearly 3,000 | ~140% |
| Regional total (three teams) | Over $3.2 million | Nearly 7,700 | ~98% of targets |
How residents can connect
Officials pointed residents to the provincial registration service for people seeking a family doctor or nurse practitioner. People looking to be attached to a primary-care provider across Ontario can register through Health Care Connect.
- The Primary Care Action Plan aims to attach everyone in Ontario to primary care by 2029.
- Local teams have already exceeded or nearly met their provincial targets for patient attachments.
- Funding is part of a broader provincial health investment that the government says includes hospitals and training for health professionals.
The provincial release frames the investment as part of a push to increase access to convenient, community-based care and to bolster Ontario’s broader health system. For Kitchener residents, the early results include rapid attachment to care at participating clinics and teams that are scaling up services as they receive funding.
"We’re investing record amounts in health care across Ontario, building hospitals, training more doctors and nurses than ever before and connecting patients to convenient primary care in their community," the provincial release quoted the premier as saying.
Local health providers that received the funding must continue to meet targets and sustain the attachment work over the coming years if the province-wide objective of full primary-care access by 2029 is to be realised. For now, the early intake figures show those Kitchener-area teams are on pace to make a measurable difference for residents who have been searching for a regular provider.
Residents can register through the provincial website to be linked with a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
