South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) announces $3.6 million in
funding for local priorities

LONDON, ON, Sept. 23 /CNW/ - The South West LHIN Board of Directors has approved over $3.6 million in one-time funding to support local initiatives that will advance the LHIN's goals and priorities that focus on putting people at the centre of the system. These initiatives build upon the foundation of the South West's Health System Design Blueprint Vision 2022, moving the local health system closer toward the goal of being an integrated system of care that focuses on person-centred care delivery in an equitable and sustainable way.

The Board approved funding for 12 initiatives at its meetings in August and September, making use of several funding envelopes. The key areas of focus include: emergency department and Alternate Level of Care, creating centrally-coordinated resource capacity, ensuring population-based integrated health services, building a quality improvement program, boosting decision-making infrastructure and supporting end-of-life care.

Project charters are being created for each of the initiatives, these charters will include performance indicators and progress reports will be shared with the LHIN Board on a quarterly basis to ensure performance and accountability.

QUOTES

"What people want is the very best health care, as close to home as possible. That is why it is such a priority for the Province of Ontario," said John Wilkinson, MPP, Perth-Wellington. "Increased funding to support improved patient care is always welcome. What is significant though is the renewed focus on the areas of care that people say are important to them and for their families. The Southwest LHIN is doing their job of first listening to patients and then delivering results through stronger integrated collaborations between local healthcare agencies."

"It's gratifying to see the wonderful work that is being done in our LHIN. As a Board, we are always mindful of the impact our decisions have on all the residents of the LHIN and are particularly encouraged by the number of initiatives that involve multi-provider collaboration," said John Van Bastelaar, Acting Board Chair.

QUICK FACTS

• For an overview of the projects, see the attached backgrounder.
  

• Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) are a fundamental component of the government's plan to build a stronger health care system in Ontario. Passed in March 2006, the Local Health System Integration Act is intended to create a health care system that keeps people healthy, cares for them when they are sick and will be there for their children and grandchildren.

• The South West LHIN is a crown agency responsible for the planning, integration and funding of more than 150 health service providers, including hospitals, long-term care homes, mental health and addictions agencies, community support services, community health centres, and the South West Community Care Access Centre. The South West LHIN covers an area from Lake Erie to the Bruce Peninsula and is home to almost one million people. For more information visit www.southwestlhin.ca, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

For more news updates, sign up for a My Page alert at www.southwestlhin.on.ca . You can also follow us on Twitter at @SouthWestLHIN or check our page on Facebook.

Backgrounder

Project	Funding	Description
Diabetes education improvement project in Thames Valley	$7,000 (2010/11) $21,625 (2011/12)	The main focus of this initiative is to improve the coordination of services among the Diabetes Education Centres (DECs) in order to serve more clients with existing resources.
Health ePathways Resource Matching and Referral (RM&R) - Phase 2	$181,088	The South West LHIN's Alternative Level of Care (ALC) Resource Matching and Referral project is part of a larger, four-LHIN initiative to move patients out of acute care facilities and into more appropriate environments for their on-going care. Helping health care providers match patients with alternate resources will improve hospital bed utilization and reduce emergency department wait times.
Non-urgent patient transportation project	$123,000	This initiative will include a patient transportation needs assessment, as well as an analysis of best in class standards. Supplier certification standards will be developed as well as service level agreements to facilitate audits of services provided. To ensure LHIN-wide consistency, common processes and procedures will be developed.
eShift service delivery model for clients who are at end-of-life	$1,186,035	The Community Care Access Centre's eShift project uses technology to deliver more services - without increasing costs. The initiative connects an enhanced-skill Personal Support Worker (PSW) providing overnight home care to clients with complex health care needs with a nurse via a web-enabled phone; This project focuses on maximizing use of resources in a sustainable and cost effective manner.
South West LHIN program and services inventory - phase 2	$317,000 (2010/11) $360,000 (2011/12)	In Phase One, this initiative created a detailed repository of health services in the South West LHIN. Phase Two now proposes to add the repository data to the healthline.ca database, creating a detailed information resource readily available to health service providers and the general public.
Hip fracture improvement project	$224,082	This initiative will improve hospitals' ability to meet the provincial target of hip fracture surgery within 48 hours of admission by implementing the Bone and Joint Network' care maps, applying inter-hospital patient transfer protocols, and identifying other opportunities for improvement.
Cancer surgery improvement project	$834,378 (2010/11)	The focus of this initiative is to develop queuing models for urology cancer surgery procedures to improve access to specialists using an electronic centralized referral system. With a treatment catchment area that includes other LHINs it will be critical to engage the Erie St. Clair and Waterloo Wellington LHINs in this initiative.
Adult Critical Care response team pilot study	$108,046	The purpose of this pilot project is to review and assess if an on-call intensivist can improve referral and access to critical care services for critically ill patients within the South West LHIN.
South West Community Support Services Performance Management Project	$144,000	This initiative continues to build on the transformation of the health system. The 64 provider agencies offering services to seniors and adults with complex needs will continue to work together to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their programs, thereby assisting the LHIN in addressing ER/ALC challenges.

In addition to the above projects, the Board also approved funding for the following end-of-life support initiatives:

• Plan of treatment for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) process - Phase 2 ($70,000): Endorsed by the End-of-Life Network, this project takes a structured approach describing the steps that health care professionals must take when having discussions about resuscitation with patients or their decision makers. This approach was developed in Grey-Bruce and successfully implemented in a residence in Oxford County. The funding approved by the Board will allow the Network to spread the implementation to other health care providers in Oxford County.

• Setting the stage for change workshop ($9,000): After a very successful workshop in March 2010 for 75 hospice volunteers, health care providers, administrators and policy makers, the South West End of Life Care Network and the Southwestern Ontario Palliative Pain and Symptom Management Program have been approved for funding to co-host two more sessions, this time in two different locations in the LHIN.

• South West End-of-Life Care Network strategic plan ($16,000): This funding is to support the development of a South West End of Life Care Network strategic plan for hospice palliative care to provide the guidance and vision that care providers are looking for.

For further information:

Annabelle Mackey
519 672-0445, ext. 2573  
[email protected] 

Toll-free: 1 866 294-5446
www.southwestlhin.on.ca