South West LHIN calls on providers and communities to commit to building a
unified, integrated health care system.
New Health System Design Blueprint - Vision 2022 and Integrated Health Service Plan 2010-2013 released today.
The Blueprint was initiated by the South West LHIN Board of Directors to develop a framework for how the system should be structured across programs and geography, based on a detailed understanding of current services. It contains a vision of an Integrated Health System of Care to support health care providers in planning for change and finding new ways to work together to meet the evolving needs of all communities in the South West LHIN.
The IHSP describes the South West LHIN's priorities, strategies and proposed outcomes for the local health system over the next three years through two strategic directions:
- Enhanced Capacity and Integration of Primary, Specialized and
Community-based Care for:
- Seniors and Adults with Complex Needs
- People Living with Mental Health and Addictions Challenges
- People Living with or at Risk of Chronic Disease(s).
- Enhanced Access and Sustainability of Hospital-based Treatment and
Care Related to:
- Emergency Services
- Medicine, Surgical and Critical Care Services.
The South West LHIN is asking health service provider boards, leadership and all partners to examine the IHSP and Blueprint to seek to understand how they can help improve the health care system using the goals and priorities in those documents for guidance. The IHSP and Blueprint provide a framework for change and the South West LHIN will be calling on all health care providers to collaborate in developing an improved, more integrated health care system over the coming months and years.
Both documents were developed in collaboration with our health system partners and reflect significant public engagement. The South West LHIN will continue with this collaborative approach as we engage with key health care partners about the IHSP and Blueprint.
Please see the attached backgrounder for more details.
QUOTES
"The Integrated Health System of Care in the IHSP and Blueprint represents a significant step forward for the South West LHIN and will allow providers to take a longer-term, proactive view of system change. I am hopeful that these documents will start new conversations and processes, from which we can create more sustainable, flexible and integrated programs," said
"The South West LHIN Board initiated the Blueprint to get a complete model of the health care system in our area and all the pressures it is under," said Janet McEwen, Acting Chair, South West LHIN Board of Directors. "On behalf of the South West LHIN, I want to thank providers and their Boards for their contributions and ask them to continue working with us to move these projects forward. Together we can build A Healthier Tomorrow."
Quotes from Health System Design Steering Committee Members
"While health service providers are doing a great job in addressing the pressures of today, it's clear the needs of the residents of the South West LHIN and the challenges of the future mean we cannot continue to provide care the way we do today. We need to fundamentally transform how we provide care and work together in a far more collaborative way centered around the client,"
"Planning at the system level is one of the best ways of ensuring continued access to high quality healthcare into the future,"
"We, as hospital partners, need to collaborate to better manage our resource capacity. This is the only way to ensure seamless flow of our patients upstream and downstream,"
"A responsive, comprehensive health system is one that recognizes and responds to the needs of all populations, including those who are marginalized, those with complex needs and those who experience barriers to care. It is also essential that we provide person-centred care: care that focuses on the whole person within his/her context, and not just on the person's illness or disease,"
"Change in health care is not new; we must continue to be bold in our actions."
QUICK FACTS
The Health System Design Blueprint - Vision 2022 represents the South West LHIN's vision for the health care system that will be realized through the Integrated Health System of Care over the next 12 years.
The Integrated Health Service Plan 2010 - 2013 represents our priorities and proposed actions for the next three years as well as how success will be measured.
LEARN MORE
Please see the associated backgrounder for more details and visit the South West LHIN website to download the documents and their appendices.
South West LHIN Releases Health System Design Blueprint - Vision
2022 and Integrated Health Service Plan 2010-2013
BACKGROUNDER November 30, 2009
The Health System Design Blueprint - Vision 2022
The Health System Design Blueprint - Vision 2022 ("Blueprint") is the South West LHIN's long-term vision for the health care system. The Blueprint outlines the goals and strategies that will guide the LHIN as we create a single, unified system of health care.
During the first three years of the LHIN's work, it became clear that a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the current state of health care services was required, as well as a plan to attain a more integrated system. The Blueprint - developed in collaboration with all our stakeholders, including local health service providers - outlines the structure of the current health system and allows us to begin the work of creating one that makes better use of our existing resources and anticipates needed changes.
The main goal of the Blueprint is to ensure that all programs and services are part of a single, unified health system that creates clear roles and responsibilities for organizations and shows how they will work together to care for the population. The goal of a more integrated system reflects the findings in the current state analysis and recognizes the challenges the health care system is currently facing including inequitable distribution of resources, problems finding adequate numbers of skilled staff, funding limitations, inability to smoothly move patients from one care setting to another, and the inability to easily share information between organizations. The Blueprint is a response to these limitations in the current health care system and will result in significant benefits.
For providers, patients and families the benefits of the new system will be more collaborative partnerships across health care providers and sectors, an equitable distribution of resources that improves your ability to get care closer to home as often as possible, improved referral processes for easier transfer of individuals, standardized evidence-based approaches to care provision, improved information sharing to enable better decision making, greater individual accountability and self-health management, prevention and screening for chronic diseases, mental health and addictions. To achieve these benefits required that the Blueprint's vision for the system be developed.
The goal of an Integrated Health System of Care is at the core of the South West LHIN's vision for the health care system. Because there are many different types of organizations in the health care system, such as hospitals, long-term care homes and community agencies, the Integrated Health System of Care will use two approaches for organizing services to ensure the needs of communities are met:
1. The Population-based Integrated Health Services approach, which is
tailored to the needs of the local community and helps people manage
their own health and maintain their independence. This generally
refers to the services one would expect to find in the community such
as primary care physicians, long-term care homes, chronic disease
prevention and management services and emergency services.
2. The Centrally Coordinated Resource Capacity approach seeks to improve
the use of key resources in the system to help advance health and
wellness at the local level and the flow of patients through the
system to the right type of care. The services targeted for
improvements are surgical, medicine, critical care and ambulatory
services.
Both of these service delivery approaches recognize that some services are delivered best in the local community, some will be present across several communities and highly complex services will only be available in specialized locations. These approaches will be supplemented by our enabling priorities involving information and clinical technology, improved system navigation, strategies for health human resources and Blueprint implementation and accountability frameworks.
The Blueprint is a strong first step towards realizing a better health care system that can meet the needs and demands of our population in a sustainable way, creating a more integrated comprehensive system that puts the needs of the patient first.
With the Blueprint providing the structure for the long-term vision of the health care system, changing the system to align with the Blueprint will require the South West LHIN to work collaboratively with providers to implement the actions that will get us there. The LHIN's new Integrated Health Service Plan 2010-2013 contains the key priorities, actions and strategies that will move us forward.
The Integrated Health Service Plan 2010-2013
The South West LHIN's Integrated Health Service Plan 2010-2013 ("IHSP") describes the priorities, strategies and proposed outcomes for the local health system and the implementation steps for the next three years to help begin to realize the vision contained in the Blueprint. It builds on the work of the first IHSP, aligns with provincial priorities, demonstrates the case for change and lists the performance measures that will be used to gauge our success.
The IHSP includes two strategic directions that align with the Blueprint. The first, Enhance the Capacity and Integration of Primary, Specialized and Community-based Care will focus on the following populations:
- Seniors and Adults with Complex Needs
- People Living with Mental Health and Addictions Challenges
- People Living with or at Risk of Chronic Disease(s)
This strategic direction will guide decisions made to improve the health
care experience for individuals in their local communities.
The second, Enhance Access and Sustainability of Hospital-based Treatment
and Care related to:
- Emergency Services
- Medicine, Surgical and Critical Care Services
This strategic direction will guide our decision making as we try and improve the system to alleviate backlogs, ensure access for all and optimize the use of available resources to grapple with challenges such as shortages of specialized staff.
As described above, the Blueprint creates a vision for the health care system by 2022. The main role of the IHSP is to support the realization of that vision with an action-oriented plan for the first three years of our efforts. In the coming months, the South West LHIN will begin the change process by broadly communicating with health system partners about the Blueprint and IHSP and asking them to work on overall implementation objectives, seek opportunities for greater integration of the health care system and, as appropriate, the LHIN will negotiate modified accountability agreements and make program funding decisions that align with our goals and vision.
This backgrounder is a brief introduction of the key concepts in the Blueprint and IHSP. The complete documents contain a tremendous amount of information on how this change will be managed, measured and reported. All interested parties are encouraged to read the complete documents and their appendices which can be found on the South West LHIN website at www.southwestlhin.on.ca.
For further information: Matthew Clarke, (519) 672-0445, ext. 2566, [email protected]; Annabelle Mackey, (519) 672-0445, ext. 2573, [email protected]; Toll-free: 1-866-294-5446, www.southwestlhin.on.ca
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