Province commits $4.75 million to local primary care access

A $4.75-million provincial investment will connect nearly 9,000 residents of Fort Erie, Port Colborne and Wainfleet with nurse practitioners and team-based primary care, the largest expansion of local family medicine in years.

Bridges Community Health Centre will manage the money in collaboration with the Welland McMaster Family Health Team, Ward 4 Councillor Joan Christensen told Fort Erie Radio.

The South Niagara funding forms part of more than $12.2 million the province announced in Port Colborne earlier this month to connect up to 23,667 people with primary care across Niagara, Brantford, Hamilton and London.

Christensen welcomed the investment while warning it leaves Fort Erie without an answer for patients who need urgent treatment after regular clinic hours.

“Am I grateful to the province? Absolutely. Do I think there’s more work to be done? Absolutely,” said Christensen.

The funding will pay for nurse practitioners and allied health professionals, including nurses, social workers, dietitians and mental health workers, to deliver care across the three municipalities.

Physicians outside Bridges will also gain access to those teams, including doctors at the Fort Erie Group Family Practice on Bertie Street and the South Niagara Family Health Organization. Larger group practices could house the new staff inside their own clinics.

Bridges and its Welland partner are planning the rollout now. No hiring breakdown or timeline have yet been set.

For Fort Erie, the expansion covers only part of the gap. Christensen drew a hard line between the new funding and the urgent-care service residents have pressed the town to protect.

“A parent with a kid at 10 o’clock at night who’s got an earache or a spiking temperature is not going to be worried about getting to the family doctor at 10 o’clock at night. That’s what urgent care is,” said Christensen. “So yes, there’s still a lot of work to be done. This doesn’t finish the job.”

Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff delivered the announcement in Port Colborne on behalf of the province. Bridges is one of five Niagara primary care providers receiving a share of the regional money, and each will establish a process to accept new patients.

The investment flows from Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan, a $3.4-billion program led by Dr. Jane Philpott that aims to connect everyone in the province to a family doctor or primary care provider by 2029. The province says it attached 330,000 people to care in 2025-26, exceeding its first-year target by more than 30,000.

“Primary health care is a major piece of the healthcare access puzzle,” said Christensen. “It isn’t the only piece that will address the need for urgent care.”

Town council must still decide what care Douglas Memorial Hospital should provide before the new South Niagara hospital opens. The town is waiting on reports from consultants examining the Douglas Memorial building and weighing its future operation.

Stay Informed

Events, offers, contests, and breaking news, all delivered straight to your inbox.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Subscribe