The Erie St. Clair LHIN (LHIN) will be identifying planning areas, or sub-regions, within the LHIN as a means to improve health system planning, coordination, and evaluation, and ultimately to ensure that the residents improve their health status.
Looking to improve local health care
LHIN officials say this work will be done with the input of residents, patients, and health care providers to ensure that the system is responsive to the unique local communities within Erie St. Clair (ESC).
“While ESC residents can continue to receive health care wherever they need it, focusing on smaller areas to plan health service delivery makes sense: our region is large, diverse, and is a unique mix of urban and rural areas,” LHIN officials stated in a press release.
“We know that health care needs and the way we access health care services vary among people living in different parts of our region.”
With the goal of improved patient and client health outcomes, LHIN officials say sub-regions will help them to:
– Effectively plan, evaluate, and improve our local health care system
– Focus on delivering and providing access-to-care based on community needs
– Improve care coordination and support easier transitions for patients between acute, primary, home and community, and long-term care settings
– Improve population health and equity in health outcomes
“It is important to note that the sub-regions are not service boundaries and will continue to allow for patient choice,” LHIN officials stated.
Similar concept brought up in Wallaceburg
A similar concept was brought up by the former Sydenham District Hospital board back in April at a members meeting.
The former board outlined details of their new vision for Wallaceburg’s hospital during the spring meeting, which packed over 450 people in the UAW Hall.
George Lung, a former board member, said the board was going to request that Sydenham Campus be ‘reclassified’ as a small, rural hospital and that Wallaceburg, Walpole Island and St. Clair Township be formed into a new district of the Erie-St. Clair LHIN, which would have worked jointly with other healthcare organizations (see below):
LHIN seeking input
The LHIN will be hosting webinars to share more details on the possible sub-region areas and seeking input from the public on the concept of sub-regions.
The webinar dates are
– Thursday, Sept 15 at 6:30 pm
– Monday, Sept 19 at 10:00 am
For details on how to join the webinar visit www.eriestclairlhin.on.ca. Additionally, an online survey has been launched to collect further input. You can access the survey at www.eriestclairlhin.on.ca.
