Addressing gridlock at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is an integral part of a four-point strategic plan laid out by the North West Local Health Integration Network.
CEO Laura Kokocinski on Thursday said one of the keys to achieving the goal is finding a way to keep non-essential patients out of the emergency department.
Fifty per cent of the people who visit the department don’t need to be there.
“That’s a result of resources that may not be available within the community environment, which could be primary care, mental health and addictions or other community support services. So part of this plan is really looking at the partners coming together, identifying where those gaps are, changing the way services are being delivered, looking at ways of addressing those gaps where they exist,” Kokocinski said.
“Certainly the gridlock is not just a Thunder Bay Regional Hospital issue, it’s a system issue, because it is our only tertiary centre and when it is in gridlock, it is impacting all the people across the whole region.”
The solution is not about talking just to hospital officials, but talking to partners region-wide and finding ways to adjust and care for people.
Those solutions could include repatriation of people coming into Thunder Bay from the region and finding way to provide services for them in their home communities.
“It is about transformation. It does mean that the way care is delivered today is not the way care will be delivered in the future.”
However it shakes out, the new strategic plan will be paid for with the same $600-million-plus basket of money.
Joy Warkentin, board chairwoman of the North West LHIN, said it will prove challenging, but it is doable. More money isn’t an option.
“If you look at the population of Northwestern Ontario we have about two per cent of Ontario’s population and we need about five per cent of the health-care resources. To make an argument that we need more would be tough, at best. So given that we get five per cent, are we using that money wisely? And I would say not always. There are certainly opportunities for us to shift the way that we’re spending dollars to meet all the needs that we have.”
The board spends 39 per cent more on administration in the Northwest than they do anywhere else in Ontario. They spend more than 100 per cent more per client on mental health and addiction services.
“And yet we still have gaps. But if we seize the opportunities that are in front of us, and work with our health-service providers, we can make significant changes and we can have enough money to meet all our needs,” Warkentin said.
The plan calls for the creation of an integrated health care system, an integrated e-health framework, improved access to care and enhanced chronic disease prevention and management.
Technology, such as tele-home care, telemedicine and mobile units will be expanded to ensure services are closer to home.
“We see that technology and advancements in technology are really going to change the dynamics of how care can be delivered in the future. People can be in their own living room and actually accessing care, whether or not it’s a self-management program to help them manage their chronic disease … or an application that’s going to support them in their care,” Kokocinski said.
“We’re very interested in how that can help people and improve access to services.”
