Carleton Place and the effort to recruit and retain family doctors
May 4, 2026
With over half of the province's physicians nearing the age of retirement, and only 42% of medical students considering a career in family medicine, finding a family doctor can feel like a daunting task.
Yet an innovative approach may contain a piece of the solution to this problem. In the town of Carleton Place (an OMERS employer), a collaboration between the municipality, the medical community and the private sector has created an “ambulatory health hub” meant to both attract these doctors to the area, but also to connect patients with multiple medical services in one location: The Carleton Place Regional Health Hub (CPRHH).
Officially opened in 2025, this 60,000-square-foot facility, located across the street from a long-term care home and easy to reach off of the highway, is built to serve multiple medical needs. 50% of the building is dedicated to primary care providers, with the rest available to “medically adjacent” services. This means a pharmacy, eye care and more, all within walking distance of the dozen-plus physicians who work in CPRHH.
"I always thought that the hospital was a wonderful place in a way, because you can have different consultants all speaking together in the hallways," says Dr. Jamie Fullerton, who happens to be one of them. "But, that doesn't happen in primary care… I still think one of the biggest values eventually will be the people in the building knowing each other." Dr. Fullerton adds that the value of this will be seen in the ability to bring new doctors into the region. Not only will they be able to work alongside veteran physicians, but the fact that the facility is so modern, combined with a built-in professional administrative team and the aforementioned team-based approach to family medicine, are a huge draw.
The Town of Carleton Place, along with the Township of Beckwith (a neighbouring municipality and another OMERS employer), committed $1.7 million in funding over the next 10 years, which was matched by $1.2-million from the province.
It’s also become clear that this type of innovation is having an effect on regions and towns; just a few months, ago, the Spruce Health Hub opened in Kingston, with the aim of providing 14,000 people with access to specialized medical care.
Whether the introduction of such concepts continues to proliferate and drive future medical students to go the family physician route remains to be seen. Does the opportunity to mentor a new generation also attract wizened professionals to remain in their role a little while longer? That too will not be answered for several years. Yet the fact that the effort is underway to drive towards these possibilities is encouraging in itself, and an exciting proposition to many Ontarians looking to make the most of such care.
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