The Board of Directors for the North East Local Health Integration Network (NE LHIN) are meeting in Sault Ste Marie today and will receive two significant presentations that reflect on the region's state of health care: Ontario Wait Time Strategy and Alternate Level of Care.
Full details contained in the news release Ontario Wait Time Strategy below.
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Dr. Alan Hudson, Lead, Access to Services and Ontario Wait Time Strategy will provide an update on the Strategy results for the North East LHIN. The Strategy is focussed on improving access to five service areas: cancer surgery, cardiac procedures, hip and knee joint replacement, cataract surgery and MRI and CT diagnostic scans. Dr. Hudson spoke of the NE LHIN's performance and future management role compared to the rest of the province. Highlights include:
* 36% decrease in cancer surgery wait time since last reporting period with 95% of cases completed within the access target of 12 weeks (84 days).
* Significant decreases in angiography and angioplasty wait times. Bypass surgery wait time is 35% higher than baseline.
* Cataract surgery wait time is significantly below the Aug/Sept '05 and Oct/Nov '06 values. 93% of cataract surgery cases have been completed within the access target of 6 months (182 days).
* Wait time for hip replacements has decreased significantly since last reporting period but remains above the baseline value. Wait times for joint replacements are among the longest in the province due to the long wait times at Hôpital régional de Sudbury.
* MRI wait times have increased significantly since baseline. Sault Area Hospital's 90th percentile wait time of 28 days is still among the shortest in the province. CT wait time at North Bay General Hospital is the shortest in the province.
Alternate Level of Care (ALC)
Board members will hear about emerging strategies for dealing with the escalating ALC challenge in the North East. "The ALC situation in our region continues on a downward spiral," said Mathilde Gravelle Bazinet, Chair of the North East LHIN. "The North East LHIN has been working to resolve this issue within the confines of the resources it has," continued Chair Bazinet. "Resolving ALC is all about people; every ALC statistic has a person behind it and we need to ensure that we are doing the absolute best that we can so that our patients receive quality care in the most appropriate setting."
Board members received a presentation on the ALC pressures in each of the region's four centres (Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins and North Bay) and the strategies under development.
Chair Bazinet confirmed that the North East LHIN has been working on developing short, mid and long-term strategies to help stabilize ALC. Strategies focus on increasing the overall mix and quantity of health care services within a community and will be brought to the NE LHIN Board of Directors on December 19 when they receive a full ALC report with recommendations.
The report will help to determine the disbursement of approximately $2.5 million in available funds for the 2007/2008 fiscal year. An additional $4.3 million has been earmarked for initiatives under the Aging at Home Strategy for the 2008/09 fiscal year.
A Board agenda and documentation can be downloaded from: www.nelhin.on.ca
The North East LHIN is one of fourteen regional networks in Ontario created to plan, integrate and fund local health services. It is responsible for leading the transformation of the local health care system and works closely with over 200 health service providers including hospitals, the North East CCAC, long term care facilities and consumers and their families to integrate health care practices into a model that works for the people of North East Ontario.
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