South East LHIN releases second Integrated Health Services Plan
The current provincial health plan for Ontario sets out a vision and strategic direction to guide this transformation of our health-care system. It builds upon existing strengths and responds to emerging priorities.
The transformation is underway, led locally by each of the 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) in Ontario. Each LHIN is required to develop an Integrated Health Services Plan (IHSP) every three years to direct improvement of local health care services within its region.
This is the second Integrated Health Services Plan (IHSP2) for the South East LHIN. It builds upon the progress made to improve local health care since the first IHSP was approved in October 2006.
The report outlines how the plan was developed, and defines the alignment with the priorities set and agreed to by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). It describes the themes heard through community engagement and consultation processes, sets out the specific priorities the South East LHIN will focus on, and explains how the LHIN will demonstrate and measure success. In addition, there is an expectation that all health service providers will respond to local and regional needs, measure their performance, incorporate best practices and support meaningful community participation to ensure accountability to the South East LHIN.
The plan is entitled, Reaching for Excellence and has been formulated around six strategic pillars of excellence:
- Quality of Care
- Patients/People
- Integrated Service Delivery
- Effective Programs/Services
- Financial Health and Sustainability
Reaching for Excellence supports the LHIN in pursuit of its vision:
Achieving better health through proactive, integrated and responsive health care in partnership with an informed community.
The IHSP2 focuses on strengthening primary care, integrating mental health and addictions services, providing supportive care and delivering specialized and emergency care. Improvement in these areas will be demonstrated through enhanced access to health-care services, improved overall system efficiency and better services for individuals with mental health and addictions needs. Improvement will also be achieved in part by support for health promotion and engagement of consumers in all aspects of their health-care delivery. There will be more emphasis on helping people stay healthy and better manage their long term health.
In all, there are 10 priorities set out in IHSP2 to assist the South East LHIN in creating an accessible and sustainable system for care. In turn, these priorities will also position care so that it is provided in the right place at the right time. These system improvements will enable the acute care system to be better able to focus on its role. The IHSP2 priorities are:
- Developing a System of Primary Health Care
- Enhancing a Culture of Patient-Centred Care
- Improving Mental Health and Addictions Services Capacity
- Developing Regional Program Management
- Improving Access in Emergency Room Care
- Reducing the Incidence and Prevalence of Alternate Level of Care
- Implementing the Ontario Diabetes Strategy
- Furthering Access Through E-health
- Expanding Culturally and Linguistically Sensitive Health-care Services
- Advancing System Improvement through Boards Working Together
