Deb and Dave chip away at doctor shortage

Three of Ontario's 30 new Family Health Teams will be located in the Sault and area, Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, announced today.

Three of Ontario's 30 new Family Health Teams will be located in the Sault and area, Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, announced today.

Matthews is shown with Sault MPP David Orazietti during a lunch hour news conference at the SaultCare Medical Clinic in Cambrian Mall, where one team will be established.

Its members will provide primary care access to a broad range of patients in Sault Ste. Marie.

Another unit in Batchewana First Nation's Rankin community will include a family physician whose fluency in Ojibwa will help put elderly patients at ease.

A third team will work out of Blind River.

The full text of a media release from David Orazietti's office follows:

************************ Orazietti announces two new family health teams in Sault Ste. Marie

Provincial government delivering front-line health care to an additional 10,000 local residents

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON - David Orazietti, MPP was joined today by Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, to announce the creation of a Family Health Team in Sault Ste. Marie and Batchewana First Nation, which are expected to provide an additional 10,000 local residents with greater access to family health programs and services in the community.

“Our government has made unprecedented investments to improve health care in Sault Ste. Marie and we are delivering additional advancements to front-line health care by providing greater access to family health specialists for individuals who do not have a doctor,” said Orazietti. “We understand that the best health care programs and services are designed around local needs, which means that the Sault Ste. Marie FHT’s will reduce pressure on the hospital’s emergency room while also improving the management of chronic disease in the community.”

Family Health Teams are made up of a team of doctors and other health care providers such as nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers and dietitians who are all working together to provide non-emergency care.

There are currently 170 Family Health Teams across the province providing care to over 2.3 million Ontarians and serving over 393,000 patients who previously did not have access to a family doctor.

Today’s announcement is part of the addition of 30 new teams across the province which fulfills Ontario’s commitment to create 200 Family Health Teams.

“What makes these Family Health Teams so valuable is that each one is developed with the needs of the community in mind,” said Matthews. ”These additional 30 new teams will provide even greater access to quality heath care for people in the community.”

"This is an exciting opportunity for our group to give patients in Sault Ste. Marie the kind of collaborative and patient-centred care that Family Health Teams provide. The high-quality primary care that the Superior Family Health Team is going to provide will be an asset to the community. Through collaboration with other health care providers we are moving towards a more integrated health care system in Sault Ste. Marie," said Dr. Alan McLean, physician lead, Superior Family Health Team.

“I am extremely pleased to see this Family Health Team coming to the North Shore Tribal Council area and being housed out of the Batchewana First Nation community. This Family Health Team will not only help us provide care closer home, but it will increase access to primary care services for the neighbouring aboriginal and First Nations communities,” said Gloria Daybutch, health director, Baawaating Family Health Team.

Learn more

Find out more about Family Health Teams here.

Find out more about Health Care Connect here.

Quick facts

The total number of family physicians in the District of Algoma increased by over 11 percent between 2003 and 2009.

More than 900,000 Ontarians have been attached to a family health care provider since 2003.

It is expected that once all 200 teams are operational, they will provide access to primary care for more than three million Ontarians.

Ontarians without a family health care provider can register with Health Care Connect, a program that helps people find a family doctor or nurse practitioner in their community.

It is expected that the Superior and Baawaating FHTs will be operational within one year.

In addition to these funding announcements, the McGuinty government has made key health care investments in Sault Ste. Marie which include:

- $408 million to construct new Sault Area Hospital

- $31 million in additional funding to SAH for patient service enhancements, including $13.2 million to reduce wait times and $3.7 million for new medical equipment

- $16.5 million increase in annual base funding to Sault Area Hospital (1.5 percent increase in 2010-11)

- $7.3 Million for Algoma Public Health building

- $5.9 million for home care and community support services

- $3.0 million to reduce emergency room wait times in Northeastern Ontario

- $2.8 million toward new Algoma Residential Community Hospice (ARCH)

- $2.2 million for EMS Response Centre

- Constructing a nurse-led practitioner clinic at Sault College.

Other key McGuinty government health care investments in Ontario include:

- Increased health care funding by 57 percent from $29 billion to $45.5 billion

- Opened the Northern Ontario School of Medicine

- Hired 10,000 more nurses

- 38 percent increase in physician supply by 2011