Building a connected public health-care system for the patient

Dear Editor:

When I talk to people in Huron-Bruce about health care, I hear complaints about a lack of services, wait times, or parents struggling to navigate through a fractured mental-health system for their children.

The average wait time to access a bed in a long-term care home is 146 days. Patients, families and caregivers who are familiar with our system, know far too well that Ontario can do better to improve the public health-care experience.

The people of Ontario need a connected and sustainable public health-care system that will ensure they get the high-quality care they need and deserve in the years ahead.

That’s why our government is making the necessary changes to build a modern, sustainable and connected public health-care system that is finally organized around people’s needs and outcomes.

Ontario’s new plan for health care will better organize our hard-working health care providers, including doctors and nurses, to work as one connected and co-ordinated team, focused on patients’ specific needs. If patients have to move between health-care providers or receive care in different places, these teams would make sure the patients have a smooth and simple transition.

Our government’s plan will establish teams of health-care service providers responsible for understanding your health-care history and individual situation, and directly connect you to the different types of care you need, including home care, rehabilitation care, long-term care, and mental health and addictions support.

There will be someone to help you, your family and caregiver navigate the public health-care system 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With safeguards in place to protect information, you will also have the option to securely use digital health services, including on-line access to health records and virtual care options.

As we work to rebuild the health-care system, you can be confident that you can continue to contact your health-care providers as usual to access the health-care services you need.

Our government heard from patients, families and front-line health-care workers to develop this plan, including from people of Huron-Bruce. The people will always be our government’s priority as we create a public health-care system that works for all Ontarians.

Lisa Thompson
Huron-Bruce MPP