In health care, we often talk about the “front door” of the system. For most people, that door is primary care. It’s the relationship you have with a family physician or nurse practitioner who knows your history, follows your health over time, and helps you navigate the right supports at the right moment.
The evidence speaks for itself. When that connection is strong, people stay healthier, avoid unnecessary emergency visits, and recover more smoothly after illness.
Recently, Équipe Santé Cochrane District Ontario Health Team brought primary care providers from across the region together for a community summit with the goal to establish the vision and key functions for our region’s primary care network. Staff from the hospital participated alongside family physicians, nurse practitioners and community partners. These conversations underscored something we all know to be true in the North: access to primary care is foundational to a healthy population, and it’s an area where we must continue to build capacity together.
Provincially, Dr. Jane Philpott has laid out a clear roadmap for achieving primary care attachment for every Ontarian. Her work has sharpened the focus on what it means to ensure every person has a trusted primary care provider.
Here in Timmins and the surrounding region, the need is real. Roughly one-quarter of the patients arriving at our Emergency Department today do not have a family physician. That lack of attachment drives higher emergency department use, delay in diagnoses, and longer, more complicated recoveries.
As a community, we’ve been working hard to close those gaps. Through recent funding, our primary care partners (Timmins Academic Family Health Team, Centre de Santé Communautaire de Timmins and East End Family Health Team) are enhancing local capacity to provide timely and consistent care. In our Emergency Department, we are now asking individuals at registration about whether they are connected to a family physician. Individuals can register directly with Health Care Connect www.ontario.ca/healthcareconnect to be connected with a family physician.
One of the greatest strengths of our region is a model of care that blends community and hospital practice. Many of the physicians you see in clinics across Timmins are the same ones caring for patients in our hospital, long term care and community. At TADH, along side our specialist team, our family physician practitioners provide life-saving treatment in our Emergency Department, and care for patients on our medical, rehabilitation, addictions, mental health, hospice units. It’s a model that creates continuity and deep understanding. When a family physician follows a patient from the community into the hospital, they know their context — the supports at home, the risks, the history — and can make decisions that lead to shorter hospital stays and smoother recoveries.
This dual role is not unique to our hospital, but it is increasingly rare. In many Ontario communities, hospitals have moved to dedicated specialist & hospitalist models, where physicians work exclusively within the hospital or community, not both. While that model has benefits, the Northern reality is different. Our family physicians provide emergency coverage, take on additional training such as GP- anesthesia, emergency training and serve across a spectrum of rural needs. They are deeply embedded in the full continuum of care.
But this model also comes with strain. The number of family physicians in our community has not kept pace with demand. Overhead costs for community practice continue to rise. And many new graduates are opting to work exclusively in hospitals, where the clinical work is meaningful but administrative and overhead requirements are far lower.
If we want to protect and strengthen this blended model, we need to design a system that enables physicians to move between settings sustainably and supports them in maintaining community practices. Philpott’s roadmap gives us a framework to aim toward, but local solutions will matter just as much.
Whether you’re a resident looking to connect with a family doctor, a clinician working in the system, or a partner organization delivering community supports, we all have a role in strengthening primary care.
We are stronger together. The work under way provincially, regionally, and locally gives me real optimism. With continued investment and collaboration, we can make meaningful progress in ensuring every person in our region has the primary care support they deserve.
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