A new health team would be established at the Minden Health Hub if the Kawartha Lakes-Haliburton Ontario Health Team (KLH-OHT) is chosen by the Ministry of Health.
The ministry is expected to announce in July the successful applicants from among Ontario Health Teams for something being called interprofessional primary care teams.
If KLH-OHT is successful, it would also have teams at the Coboconk Summit Wellness Centre and Woodville Medical Clinic.
It all stems form the Ontario government introducing, in January, the Primary Care Action Plan to connect every person in Ontario to primary care by 2029.
Stephanie MacLaren is the executive director of the KLH-OHT. She said the area’s postal code (KOM) was identified as having a high rate of unattached patients without a regular primary care provider.
Speaking to the proposal for Minden, MacLaren said it is “for an additional primary care (run by an existing primary care partner organization, not an expansion of the current Urgent Care Clinic.)
“The goal is to provide ongoing, relationship-based care for people in the community who currently do not have a primary care provider. This would complement existing services by focusing on preventive and chronic disease care, not just urgent needs. It would be separate and distinct from the ongoing operations of the Urgent Care Clinic.”
Asked what staffing could look like, MacLaren said the team may include a nurse practitioner, family physician, and other health professionals, such as a social worker, registered practical nurse, or registered nurse. She said the exact composition of the team would depend on final funding and the ministry’s approval.
Announcement soon
Queried about existing difficulty attracting medical professionals to the area, the executive director said both the Haliburton County and the City of Kawartha Lakes’ physician recruiters are at the table. “Their efforts are a valued part of the broader system, and the KLH-OHT sees alignment and collaboration as essential,” she said.
MacLaren said the ministry is expected to announce the successful proposals by early summer with implementation commencing shortly after.
“There are many dependencies and moving parts and we are committed to keeping the community informed as the work progresses.”
County council discusses proposal
The item was discussed at County Council May 14 following a report from CAO Gary Dyke. He said he participated in a planning session for the development of the proposal and also sits as a member of the KLH-OHT oversight committee.
“It’s a great step forward for the advancement of health care in Haliburton as well as across the entire province,” Dyke said.
His report indicated 6,902 residents across KLH-OHT are not attached to a primary care provider, including 1,566 residents on the province’s Health Care Connect waitlist. He added the regional proposal would see 800 patients attached to primary health care by the fall of 2025; 3,900 by March 2026, 7,000 by March 2027, and 9,000 by March 2028.
He said for 2025-26, the province will invest $235 million to establish and expand up to 80 additional primary care teams, attaching 300,000 more people to ongoing primary care.
“It is noted that Haliburton County has been identified as a priority community under the plan,”
Dyke told council. Dyke said the primary care partners of the KLH-OHT, led by the Kawartha North Family Health Team, submitted the proposal. Its executive director, Marina Hodson, deferred questions to MacLaren.
The CAO said the proposal speaks to deepened collaboration with Geriatric Assessment and Intervention Network, palliative care, mental health and addictions, and community paramedicine programs. “This ensures holistic, wraparound care – especially for complex patients.”
Dyke told council when it comes to financials for the County, “as an identified community partner in the primary care action plan, County staff will be bringing forward subsequent reports for council’s consideration pertaining to possible adjustments to our current community paramedicine and physician and health care professional recruitment and retention programs in support of the KLHOHT proposal.”
Coun. Bob Carter commented the report was “light on details, (we) don’t exactly know how this is going to work, but any expansion of health care is welcome news in this area.”
He said his only concern is it’s not a Haliburton County solution. “I’m concerned Kawartha Lakes is just absorbing us and I don’t see that as a good thing in the future.”
But Dyke said there was “no indication of that in the meetings I have been involved with. It’s how the province has dictated how the program will run out. The parameters were not initiated locally by Kawartha Lakes.” He noted Dr. Keith Hay is on the oversight committee and “very vocal about the needs of Haliburton County.” Coun. Cec Ryall, who sits on the board of health added, “Haliburton County has a very high voice and recognition in all of this.”
County Council provided a letter of support for the proposal to the Minister of Health.
