Need a doctor or nurse practitioner? Ontario's community health centres are uniquely equipped to help you get, and stay, attached to one
TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2026 /CNW/ -- As Ontario aims to connect more people to regular primary care, a new study by Ontario researchers highlights factors that can help support successful and sustainable attachment. The research suggests that attachment is more than the point at which a patient is connected to a provider. It is an ongoing process shaped by patient readiness, provider capacity, access, equity and health-system supports.
Published this fall in Healthcare, the study--An Equity-driven Analysis of the Implications of Attachment and Attachment Readiness within Primary Care Healthcare Systems in Canada--was led by the Alliance for Healthier Communities and Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services, with researchers from Western University and University of Toronto.
The researchers point to team-based care, patient navigation, culturally responsive outreach and more structured onboarding as important ways to improve readiness. They also recommend incorporating readiness measures into attachment systems and reducing the administrative burden involved in bringing new patients into practices.
"This research confirms what our members have been doing all along using a health equity informed framework and the model for health and wellbeing," said Sarah Hobbs, CEO, Alliance for Healthier Communities. "Success shouldn't be measured only by how many people are attached. We also need to ask whether we are creating equitable, sustainable relationships that give people meaningful access to primary care."
Over two million Ontarians don't have a family doctor or nurse practitioner. The province's goal is to connect them all to primary care by 2029. But, simply investing in connections isn't enough to improve our collective health, because attachment is a process, not a single event. Ontario needs "attachment readiness"--including investments in health equity--for long-term success.
Since the provincial plan launched in 2024, members of the Alliance for Healthier Communities have built successful proposals to attach more than 500,000 people to primary care. These focus on attachment readiness: patients are prepared, providers have the capacity to take them on, and the surrounding system supports the connection.
"The community health centre model provides a ready-to-mix recipe for the province to shift thinking from counting matches to building relationships,"," said Cliff Ledwos, Access Alliance Executive Director. "When patients are ready for primary care, the system needs to be ready too. Delays and unnecessary complexity can create additional barriers, particularly for people already experiencing inequities in access to care"
Attachment readiness means seeing patients, providers, and the healthcare system as an entire ecosystem that needs support. Researchers identified the need to address readiness decay, which happens when patients are worn down by long waits, confusion, and frustration. The risk is highest for newcomers and other equity-deserving populations, and leads to more people landing in emergency departments, at greater cost to both the system and their health.
"What we found was that community-led primary health care providers already use the recipe recommended for long term attachment and ways to avoid readiness decay," said Jen Rayner, PhD, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Alliance for Healthier Communities.
An equity lens on primary care access
The research emphasizes particular implications for newcomers, refugees and other equity-deserving populations. Its central conclusion is that attachment should be understood alongside equity and access, rather than as an isolated administrative outcome. [mdpi.com]
"In this study, we argue that health systems can strengthen attachment by standardizing onboarding, considering vulnerability and social determinants of health in prioritization, and supporting providers with the resources and capacity required to establish longitudinal relationships with patients who have complex needs," added Rayner.
Across Ontario, community health centres provide culturally responsive, language-accessible care, administrative support and interprofessional teams. Staff build trust, new clients get the right care, at the right time, in the right way, so readiness can't decay.
SOURCE Alliance for Healthier Communities
For more information, please contact: Marie-Lauren Gregoire, Alliance for Healthier Communities, 647-205-8854, [email protected]; Heather Corbin, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services, [email protected]
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