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Ontario’s Action Plan To Transform Health Care In Waterloo Region

McGuinty Government Providing The Right Care, At The Right Time, In The Right Place

January 31, 2012

Ontario has launched an Action Plan to transform the health care system and deal with the demographic challenges as well as the province’s deficit. 

The Action Plan for Health Care in Ontario will ensure families get the best health care where and when they need it, while ensuring all Ontarians get better value for their health dollars.

It will focus on three priorities aimed at preventing illness, increasing access to family doctors and supporting Ontario’s growing senior population.

The Region of Waterloo has three programs that are great examples of each of these priorities:

• Keeping Ontarians Healthy
  The Activity Centre at the Fairview Mennonite Home in Cambridge offers services to seniors in the broader community, providing physical activity, healthy eating and advice on dietary needs, education on chronic diseases.

• Faster Access to Stronger Family Health Care
  The Waterloo Region Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic will provide family health care to 3,200 people from Kitchener and Cambridge. The clinic will provide services like mental health care, palliative care, chronic disease management, and health promotion and disease prevention programs.

• Access to the Right Care, at the Right Time, in the Right Place
  The Code STEMI program at St. Mary’s Hospital allows paramedics to diagnose a potential heart attack on site or in transit and inform the hospital that a case is on the way. This program has reduced the average door-to-door treatment time down to 80 minutes, with some heart attack patients receiving treatment in as little as 37 minutes.

The Action Plan for Health Care in Ontario builds upon the significant progress that has been made in improving Ontario’s health care system since 2003 and is the next step in the McGuinty government’s plan to protect health care for our children and grandchildren.

QUOTES

“We can’t keep spending our health dollars the way we used to. If we don’t change, we simply won’t be able to guarantee sustainable universal public health care for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. That’s why our Action Plan will get better value for our health dollars and put patients first.”
— Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care

“Change is needed to strengthen healthcare for Waterloo Region families in the years ahead.  The government’s Action Plan for Health Care is an important step in making sure our families have a reliable healthcare system for generations to come.”
— John Milloy, MPP, Kitchener Centre, Minister of Community and Social Services

QUICK FACTS

• The government is committed to maintaining its investment in health care to provide the right care, at the right time, in the right place.
• The number of seniors in Ontario will increase by 43 per cent over the next decade.
• At current spending levels, the senior population is projected to cost Ontario $24 billion more annually by 2030 — 50 per cent more than today.
• In 2010/11, over 271,000 emergency room visits were made to Ontario hospitals that could have been treated in alternative primary care settings.   
• In 2009, there were 140,000 unplanned instances of patients re-admitted to hospital within a month of their original discharge.

LEARN MORE

Read the full Action Plan.

Members of the media :

Zita Astravas, 416-327-9728
Minister's Office

David Jensen, 416-314-6197
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care