Quinte West City Council has joined the call to invite members of the Hastings Prince Edward Ontario Health Team to present information regarding the Primary Care Action Plan Program.
The motion brought forward by Councillor Zack Card calls on the health team to provide the outcome of the first two funding rounds, and approximately how many Quinte West residents will be connected to primary care by spring 2026 as a result of this funding, in accordance with the province’s aims as part of the program.
“I know there’s been a lot of information and hopes and dreams coming from the Ontario government’s announcement of their Primary Care Action Plan funding $2.1 billion, with several million going to come to Hastings & Prince Edward counties, specifically, they’re hoping to sign up to 10,000 residents to primary care,” Card said in explaining his motion.
“My fear in speaking to some of the stakeholders in the community and digging a little bit deeper on this is that, in fact, very little of these dollars will be connecting Quinte West residents to primary care, and especially with our budget deliberations coming up, we need to have that information.”
Card says that this information from the Ontario Health team, and how much of this investment and how many doctors will be coming to Quinte West, will directly affect council’s decision making on the budget.
“Possibly there’s some communication of the province about how we are, I believe, slipping through the cracks on this, but I will leave that judgment and we can have that presentation hopefully soon before the budget is finalized, certainly in January, I would hope. But I guess that’s yet to be seen,” Card said.
The motion was approved by council.
Quinte West joins the City of Belleville in calling for more clarity on how the Hastings Prince Edward Ontario Health Team utilized funding it received from the province when the announcement was made in July.
