Officials are saying last week’s “regional round table discussion” at the PMD arena about health care in rural and northern Ontario was a productive one.
“There was lots of good table discussions and lots of good feedback provided,” said Toni Adey, manager of public affairs for the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
LHIN staff were observers at the meeting, which was one of 11 round table discussions being held across Ontario by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The ministry wants to receive feedback on recommendations in a recent study completed by a panel of health care experts on how to better coordinate services in Ontario’s rural and northern areas.
Members of the media were not allowed to sit in on the actual discussions due to what ministry officials termed “privacy” concerns, but Adey said the common themes highlighted at the Feb. 1 meeting included:
– human resources within health care, specifically an aging workforce and the educational needs of health care providers;
– enhanced technology to support care closer to home, including specialized services;
– education for members of the public on what health care services are available and how they can be accessed;
– the need for better mental health and addiction services and supports; and
– connecting all aspects of health care, so individual areas are not “working in silos.”
Guelph MPP Liz Sandals, also the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, hosted the event, which was attended by about 25 people.
“It’s great to be here, in Drayton because this is the consultation I consider to be my home consultation,” she told those in attendance.
She explained the farther a person lives from a large urban centre, the higher the mortality rate. Also, those in rural, remote and northern communities also have more emergency room visits and a greater number of hospitalizations. Sandals said that doesn’t necessarily mean those living in or near cities are generally less healthy, just that hospitals are often the only health care options they have.
She explained the panel that came up with the recommendations on rural, remote and northern health care has proposed “planning standards” that specify 90% of residents in a community will receive primary care and emergency services within 30 minutes travel time from their place of residence. The standards also state that 90% will receive basic in-patient hospital services within one hour travel time, and specialty services within four hours travel time.
With those standards in mind, the panel came up with the following 12 recommendations for health care in rural, remote and northern Ontario:
– create a single point of focus within the ministry;
– improve access to health care services for First Nations communities;
– attract health professionals to communities;
– better integrate emergency medical services (land and air) with the planning and delivery of local health service;
– better integrate public health services;
– support a “local hub” model of health planning, funding and delivery;
– create a culture of collaboration and coordination amongst health care providers;
– improve and strengthen relationships between academic health sciences centres (teaching and research hospitals) and local providers;
– engage local communities to actively participate in the decision making process for health care planning, funding and delivery;
– improve planing, coordination and funding of inter-facility transfers;
– enhance community-based, non-urgent transportation solutions;
– increase the availability of clinical and education technology.
Sandals said part of the reason for the public consultations is to get feedback on how to move from those “theoretical” recommendations to actual results.
“People want to see practical solutions they can sink their teeth into at a local level,” she told the Advertiser.
While every area is unique, some issues come up at nearly every public consultation, Sandals explained, including the need for improved services in the areas of non-urgent transportation and mental health, the latter which is not addressed in the panel recommendations.
“People really notice that’s missing,” she said.
However, she added mental health and addiction services were left out because other government committees are addressing those issues.
Sandals called the Drayton round table discussion “slightly below medium size” – the range has been 15 to 43 people – though she said there was a good cross section of people, ranging from residents to health care providers to representatives from the fire department and ambulance services.
“We’ve had a really good mix of providers and clients,” said Sandals.
The goal, she said, is to complete all the round table discussions by Feb. 22, assess all the information gathered and then come up with a final “framework” by the summer.
