TORONTO, April 9, 1997 - Ontario's Health Services Restructuring Commission is ready to start work in Essex, Kent, Hamilton-Wentworth and Brant counties.

The Commission has already published its directions concerning the restructuring of health services in Thunder Bay, Sudbury and Pembroke. In addition, notices of intention to issue directions have been issued in Ottawa, London, Lambton County (Sarnia) and Metro Toronto. Most recently, the Commission announced it would expand its work to the communities in the Greater Toronto Area made up of Durham, Halton, Peel and York regions.

According to Commission Chairman, Dr. Duncan Sinclair, the Commission has set this rapid pace because health services restructuring is urgently needed.

"There have been huge changes in health care over recent years. Medical procedures have improved, and so have drug therapies and surgical techniques. Very often people have day surgery instead of checking into a hospital, and if they do stay in hospital it's for a much shorter time," he said.

Dr. Sinclair said that because of these changes about 9,000 hospital beds have closed across Ontario over the past five years, the equivalent of 30 medium-sized hospitals.

"We can't keep on spending money maintaining buildings we don't need and on duplicated services and waste," he said. "We must put our resources into health care services that people really need. We've been talking about restructuring for over a decade. Now it's time to do something about it."

Dr. Sinclair said the Commission's goal is to safeguard and improve the quality of patient care that must be accessible by all Ontarians, and that the province can afford - even if it means making changes that will be unpopular in the short term.

The Commission has developed a vision of health services that redefines the relationships among all service providers with a view to making the system more accountable, responsive and focused on improving the health of the population. Hospital restructuring is the first step in this process and will lay the foundation for a truly integrated health system in the province.

The Commission was formed by the Ontario government to make decisions about hospitals and to advise the Minister of Health about restructuring other health care services. It will give most of its immediate attention to hospital restructuring, because that's where change is most urgently needed, and it will consider hospital-related services such as home care and long-term care.

Hospital restructuring can include closing or merging hospitals or converting an acute care hospital into a long-term care facility. Or a service can be consolidated in one hospital instead of having it duplicated in other, nearby hospitals.

The Commission will study district health councils' restructuring recommendations given to the Minister of Health, and will review written submissions from interested people and organizations. Call (416) 327-5919 for guidelines on format and length. The deadline for submissions is April 23, 1997.