A new Ontario Health Team is about to be announced in Chatham.
Local MPPs Rick Nicholls and Monte McNaughton have advised the media there will be an announcement on Saturday morning at the Chatham-Kent Family Health Team office on Emma Street.
In February, the provincial government announced Ontario Health Teams that will work under a new super health agency and replace Local Health Integration Networks across the province. The Ford government said the idea is to end hallway medicine and bring health care providers together in a way the current system does not.
The province said the Ontario Health Teams will provide a new way of organizing and delivering services in local communities with the health care providers people use, including hospitals, doctors and home care providers working as one coordinated team — no matter where they provide care.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said over the past five years, Ontario’s administrative health costs have risen 30 per cent over the Canadian average, while more than 1,000 patients "languish" in hospital hallways every day. She added average wait times to get into a long-term care home have ballooned by 300 per cent since 2003.
Right now, Ontario has a network of 1,800 health service provider organizations and the new agency would integrate those providers under the new Ontario Health agency. Elliott said patients can transition from one health care provider to another smoother and easier under the new system.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance just released their wait time figures on Monday that showed patients who are admitted to the hospital through the emergency department wait an average of 13.5 hours before they're transferred to a bed.
Chatham-Kent Health Alliance CEO Lori Marshall said that's up about 2.5 hours compared to the same time last year and it's well above the provincial target of fewer than eight hours.
