Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

Our government has got a record investment in recruitment, retaining and training new health care providers, and we’re making sure we have health care providers all across the system.

The College of Nurses of Ontario has reported that in the first eight months of this year they registered 12,800 nurses. That is a record. So our changes and our investments are having an effect.

I understand that nobody likes to wait for diagnostic imaging, and diagnostic imaging has caught up—our surgical backlog. We’ve had the diagnostic imaging actually exceeding targets that existed before—although there may be one reason why this individual is waiting. I understand that Niagara has just gotten a new MRI machine. So I hope she gets her MRI very shortly.

On March 28, 2022, a three-year physician services agreement was ratified by the Ontario Medical Association and its members. It’s a true milestone, as it is the first time that a deal has been reached in over a decade without an arbitrator. Under the new virtual care framework, the ministry and the OMA are implementing a new pricing structure for virtual care—something which didn’t really exist before the pandemic—that ensures that patients are receiving services through the avenue that best reflects a patient-physician relationship, video versus telephone.

We want to be clear: All medically necessary virtual care services, including initial patient visits by telephone, will continue to be insured under OHIP. Patients will continue to have access to clinically appropriate virtual care where virtual care is the appropriate service, like in rural and remote mental health services. We’re going to make sure that Ontarians get the care they need, and we’re making virtual care permanent for the first time ever.

This government wants to make sure that every Ontarian has the health care they need and deserve. Ontario funds team-based care, such as community centres and family health teams, to improve access to primary care for vulnerable populations and trans populations. Many primary care teams run primary care programs as part of their LGBTQ+ services, or specific clinics for trans populations, providing interdisciplinary primary care services, including mental health services, for their clients.

In addition to the many groups that provide services to the trans community, there are two specific family health teams that have dedicated trans programs: the Couchiching Family Health Team for trans health services, and the Queen Square Family Health Team in Brampton for trans health/gender health in the community. There is also the Sherbourne community health centre, which provides guidance and resources that could be used by all primary care providers when caring for transgender individuals.

Ontario also funds over 500 community-based mental health and addictions providers across the province. These are services targeted to LGBTQ+ and available through many of the agencies free of charge.