Friday, March 30, 2007
South West Local Health Integration Network
South West LHIN assumes funding responsibility for local health care
Transfer of funding responsibility
marks final milestone in the plan to transform
Ontario’s health care
system
LONDON, ON – The South West Local
Health Integration Network (LHIN) today
announced it is assuming the full range of
responsibility for planning, funding and
integrating local health services effective April 1,
2007.
First announced by the provincial government in
2004, LHINs will fund and coordinate services
among hospitals, long-term care homes,
Community Care Access Centres (CCACs),
community support service agencies, mental
health and addiction agencies, divested
psychiatric hospitals and Community Health
Centres (CHCs). The Ministry retains responsibility
for overall planning of the health system and a
number of provincial programs including health
human resources and public health.
“The transfer of funding and accountability
responsibility to the South West LHIN is an
important milestone for this community,” says
Norm Gamble, chair of the South West LHIN
Board of Directors. “We now have unprecedented
opportunity to shape and influence how the health
care system can be better integrated and how
services to patients can be improved.”
The South West Local Health Integration Network
is one of 14 LHINs that have been established
across Ontario as part of an overall strategy to
transform health care. LHINs will now oversee two-
thirds of Ontario’s health care budget – nearly $20
billion a year-- and, working closely with citizens
and health care partners, will determine the
health care priorities and services required in their
local communities.
“Our government is standing by its commitment to
build a health care system around the needs of
our communities and local patients,” said Health
and Long-Term Care Minister George
Smitherman. “LHINs will make it easier for patients
to access the different health services they need
and to find their way through a complex health
system. LHINs will assist in breaking down barriers
that patients face and ensure that local health
care decisions are made with patients’ needs in
mind.”
Building on the strengths of local health
organizations, LHINs allow for better matching of
health care resources to community needs.
Patients in the South West LHIN can expect to see
a real improvement in health care. Specifically,
patients will:
- Benefit from different health providers working
together to care for them
- Experience shorter wait times in their health
care services, and have the ability to compare
their wait times with other LHINs
- Receive health care services that are in the
right place, at the right time, by the right provider
- Receive better information about health care
services in their community
- Experience a health system that works better
because there is less waste and duplication.
“LHINs are changing the way our health care
system is managed,” said Smitherman. “They will,
for the first time, engage local residents in the
planning and delivering of health care, to create
even better access to quality care and reduce wait
times.”
The South West LHIN covers an area from Lake
Erie to the Bruce Peninsula, and is home to
almost one million people. The South West LHIN
is responsible for health care planning, funding,
allocation and performance reporting for its
geographic area, with the ultimate goal of
ensuring its residents have access to high quality
preventive care, treatment and support.
For more information contact:
Tommasina Conte
Tel: 519 672-0445, ext. 208
Cell: 519 636-8125
tomm
asina.conte@lhins.on.ca
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