Ever since reading Dr. Jane Philpott’s 2024 book, Health for All, I have been struck by one of the features of her “primary care home” model. Her primary care model has many attributes: inclusive primary care coverage for an entire population in a specific geographic area; a range of multi-disciplinary services using full scope of practice; and umbrella coverage for palliative care, home care, mental health care, and community paramedics. There is also one other feature that I particularly like …the hours of service that Dr. Philpott proposes in her primary care
model.
The end result is a system with both continuity and access. It also means that the primary care home can offer services seven days a week and up to twelve hours a day, thereby reducing pressure on emergency
departments.
In rural Ontario and not-so-urban communities such as Stratford, I think citizens would welcome the expanded hours of service as part of the mix reflected in the graph below. And by reducing some of the pressure on Stratford General’s emergency department
*There are 168 hours in a week.