“Decomplicating” the health system
South-west Oxford Mayor David Mayberry told a Southwestern Public Health Board meeting Thursday, May 23 that he found disconcerting the need for new provincial health teams focused on “decomplicating” the medical system for patients.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ninh Tran had presented a report on “Ontario Health Teams” in Elgin and Oxford counties to members of the board.
The 58 teams, he said, replaced 14 local health integration networks (LHINs) that oversaw physicians, hospitals and other health-care providers over much broader geographic areas.
He described health teams as “a buzzword, but what does it really mean?”
The provincial idea behind disbanding the LHINs had been to make health care more of a local service. The focus was on making the system more coordinated, and easier for patients to navigate, Dr. Tran stated, which “is tough enough for me” as a physician.
The premise behind the teams was to bring all types of health-care providers together, as well as social services, to support those going through a medical “journey.”
The teams had been in place since 2020 in Oxford and 2021 in Elgin, and SWPH was an “operational partner” in each of them.
Each team had different priorities due to local medical issues, Dr. Tran said. Elgin’s for example, was concerned about high smoking rates and incidences of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared to provincial averages.
Other Elgin-St. Thomas issues were:
The proportion of the population without a high-school education;
The number of one-parent households;
The number of residents receiving government assistance payments;
The number of unemployed in the area;
The percentage of the population living at what was considered a low household income;
And the percentage of the population residing in homes needing major repairs.
Dr. Tran said both teams had also taken steps to map out ways to connect patients with mental health and addiction services.
Mayor Mayberry he was disconcerted by the need “to decomplicate the medical system, in my mind a great medical system.”
He asked if the new health teams were proving effective, especially in aiding with mental health issues.
Dr. Tran said, “We’ve got some great people in the health-care system, but it is really challenging to navigate.”
Unfortunately, more work would be needed to make the system less complex for both patients and providers, the health teams were still relatively new, and their work had been slowed during COVID, he said.
Mayor Mayberry said he wasn’t opposed to the teams and understood the need for them.
The most disadvantaged residents in communities struggled to access and afford more complex medical services.
“You can’t just go to the doctor and everything’s solved.”
Rob Perry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Aylmer Express
