Organization key to better senior care, health network CEO says

By MARIANA IONOVA,  The Ottawa Citizen    March 31, 2012

Better co-ordination of health services for seniors can cut inefficiencies and extra costs in Ontario’s health-care system, the head of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network said Saturday at a meeting with the region’s family councils.

Chantale LeClerc, chief executive officer of the Champlain LHIN, was the keynote speaker at Saturday’s annual general meeting for the area’s Family Councils Network, where she spoke about the organization’s vision for senior health care. She said the issue is not a lack of options for seniors, but the poor organization that makes these services difficult to navigate.

“We are fortunate here in that you can receive 97 per cent of the care you need in our LHIN,” LeClerc said. “We don’t need more (services) — we need to better organize what we already have.”
The LHIN said synchronizing health-care providers under regional hubs or common management will reduce wait times for Champlain’s 1.2 million patients and improve the quality of care. Last week, testing labs for 19 hospitals in eastern Ontario merged into one “megalab” operation in a bid to streamline the patient-care process and cut costs by $3 million. LeClerc said this type of consolidation allows providers to share resources and better serve patients’ needs.

“We know that people don’t always talk to each other,” she said. “When you’re moving from a hospital to a home or from your family physician to a specialist, often information doesn’t flow and you fall through the cracks in the middle.”

Chantale LeClerc CEO of Champlain LHIN and Eleanor Ryan Chairperson of CRFCN

LeClerc also said she would like to see long-term care centres become largely temporary places for rehabilitation. Currently, only about 13 per cent of the LHIN’s $2.37-billion budget goes to funding long-term care facilities while more than 72 per cent is put toward hospitals. The region has 89 long-term patient care beds for every 1,000 seniors over the age of 75, which means spots remain somewhat limited.

“We’re not against long-term care homes, we think they’re essential. But we want to make sure those who need them the most are in the homes, not those who think there are no other options,” she said, adding that alternatives like assisted-living services can take some patients out of long-term care and help them live independently.

LeClerc also noted that increased use of alternative health options will help the health-care system cope with the growing senior population, which is expected to surge by 120 per cent over the next 25 years.

“We believe we should give people more options so they can be healthy and remain at home for as long as possible,” she said.
mionova@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/mionova

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen