Health care providers knew there was a need for working more closely together before Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) were established, says Bill Colvin.
The provincial government has just established 14 LHINs across the province in an effort to develop a fully integrated health care system that is “patient-focused, results-driven and sustainable,” according to the Ministry of Health.
Colvin, chief communication officer at Lakeridge Health in Durham, is also chair of the Central East Communicators Group, an organization formed to explore and illustrate how health providers are working together.
While the communicators’ group has no formal ties with the Central East LHIN, “we are very friendly,” Colvin says. “We want to be supportive.”
The transformation of the provincial health system had to happen, Colvin says. “The system needed to be better co-ordinated and the LHINs comes as no surprise. Ontario is following what all other provinces have done, with more regional control of health care.”
Hospitals were told bluntly by provincial officials before the LHINs were established that it was time to start divesting some of the things they were doing he says. “They were right,” he says. “Community resources are important and an excellent option for some of the things hospitals do.”
There is a whole pile of integration going on now, Colvin says. “We believe that in parallel to the LHIN development, we can provide a forum for communications sharing in our communities, of integration examples that are happening today.”
He cites the examples of three hospitals in the region now working together on a plan for a joint pharmacy and two hospitals sharing a human resources department.
The communicators’ group that was formed before the LHIN was established is planning to publish a second newsletter this spring outlining various integration and partnership successes currently underway across the region “.We have a lot of stories for the newsletter,” Colvin says.
While many of the active members of the communicators’ group are hospital and community care access centre representatives, the group is looking for ways to involve community service providers as part of the network.
The group’s mandate is to:
• Support consistency of messaging regarding common issues such as healthcare transformation
• Provide opportunities to share learning, materials and solutions
• Create and maintain a forum for discussion, education and information sharing
• Identify further opportunities to reduce costs, increase effectiveness and efficiencies
• Facilitate enhanced communication among health care organization partners.
The Central East LHIN takes in a wide geographic area, including Scarborough, Durham Region, and Peterborough, Victoria, Haliburton and Northumberland counties, with close to 1.5 million residents.
