Ontario Home Care to Improve Over the Next Three Years
Home Care in Ontario has been reported by individuals as “patchy, uneven and fragmented,” Dr. Eric Hoskins describes during an announcement in Toronto. Patients and families are upset with the difficulty of navigating the health system for efficiency, and criticize the system for being based around the health care providers instead of the patients. Furthermore, sponsors and providers are in agreement with patients, which led to the direction for Ontario’s home and community care to be more accountable, transparent and coordinated.
Dr. Hoskins announced last month that the funding of $750 million will be designated for sparking these changes in the communities of Ontario over the next three years. An ongoing complaint for individuals in home and community care is that their personal support worker (PSW) is constantly changing, which leads to inconsistent care. Dr. Hoskins states that the issue of PSW’s will be addressed by offering self-directed funding where clients will be receiving direct funding that they are able to allocate by hiring a PSW or nurse of their choice, and choose a schedule that is most convenient.
Ontario also plans to better integrate patients moving from the hospital into the community in response that different parts of the health system do not work collaboratively. The new model of “bundled care” will be based on St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s Integrated Comprehensive Care (ICC) Project where the patient has the same health care team throughout their care, whether it is in the hospital or at home.
Further information on the 14 community care access centre’s (CCAC) across the province and how they will be affected by these decisions will be addressed at a later date, and the provincial auditor will release a report.
To view the article in the Toronto Star, click here: http://on.thestar.com/1H5Kchs
For more information on St. Joe’s ICC Project, click here: http://bit.ly/1FaXiMp