Dr. Jane Philpott, most recently acting as Dean of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, has been appointed to serve as chair of a new primary health care action team in Ontario.
The Ontario government announced on Monday that Dr. Philpott would be starting the new role leading a team that aims to connect everyone in Ontario with primary care services within the next five years.
Dr. Philpott’s work in designing the Periwinkle Health Home Model made her a suitable fit for the role, and Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said she’s the right choice for the job.
“There’s no one I trust more than Dr. Philpott with her considerable experience to keep moving us forward and get us across the finish line of connecting everyone in the province to more convenient primary health care within the next five years,” said Jones
“Doing so will have enormous benefits for people’s health and wellbeing, as well as the province’s health care system by reducing pressures on emergency departments.”
Dr. Philpott joined Queen’s University as Dean of Health Sciences in July 2020, but announced in May that she wouldn’t be seeking re-election as she looked to turn more of her focus to improving health care systems.
Before joining Queen’s University, Dr. Philpott held multiple different cabinet positions with the federal government including as Minister of Health.
In the province’s release, Dr. Philpott shared sentiments that have been presented in other news releases from Ontario Health Teams, saying that a primary care provider for everyone in the province should be a given.
“Ontario can build a health system where the guarantee of access to a primary care team is as automatic as the assurance that every child will be assigned to a public school in their neighbourhood,” Dr. Philpott said.
“Our goal will be for 100 per cent of Ontarians to be attached to a family doctor or nurse practitioner working in a publicly funded team, where they receive ongoing, comprehensive care and people can access that care in a timely way.”
Queen’s has not yet named an interim dean of Health Sciences, but the university is expected to soon.
