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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-11-19, Page 66 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Huron -Bruce Family Health Team Roundtable Valerie Gillies Editor, Lucknow Sentinel MPP Lisa Thompson hosted a Family Health Team Roundtable with Interim Leader and Former Health Minister Jim Wilson on November 12, 2014 at the Belgrave Community Cen- tre. Thompson quipped that if anyone was wondering why Belgrave, "If you look at the map of Huron -Bruce, it is the closest place to the centre of the area with a community centre." The invited guests around the table represented 7 Family Health Teams (FHT) throughout the riding including Maitland Valley, Brockton and Area, Bluewa- ter Area, Clinton, Huron Community, North Huron and Kincardine. The stated purpose of the meeting was to get input directly from the service providers as to what needs to happen to sustain health care in rural Ontario. What needs to change? As the meeting progressed there were sev- eral opportunities for each team to have their say as the questions were directed around the table. The overall biggest prob- lem identified and agreed to by all teams is the inequity in compensation between FHT Valerie Gillies/Lucknow Sentinel Reperesentatives of 7 Family Health Teams (FHT) throughout Huron -Bruce participated in a Roundtable hosted by MPP Lisa Thompson and Interim Leader Jim Wilson in Belgrave on November 12, 2014. The FHT included Maitland Valley, Brockton and Area, Bluewater Area, Clinton, Huron Community, North Huron and Kincardine. staff and Community Care Access Centres (CCAC). Both are under the same ministry, but FHT receives 20% funding while CCAC receives 25% funding which automatically sets up a com- petition the FHT have no way of winning. The inequity in wages and salaries sets the health team up for bullying between doctors and nurse practitioners and causes a riff in the community it serves. People are angry at not being able to attract and retain health care staff but there is nothing they can do about it as any action they IN THE CLASSIFIEDS take immediately to woo professionals would not be allowed to be reversed in the future when the problem is corrected, leaving teams stuck with incentives they can no longer afford. The second most debili- tating issue for FHT is the inability for the FHT Boards to make decisions that would benefit their team as their hands are tied by Min- istry guidelines. This extends to the annual budg- ets. Adding to the confusion is that there are 3 models of FHT Boards in operation: provider led, community led and mixed with both providers and community members. The lack of an overall model means that there are no guidelines or continuity built into the FHT system. The majority are in the provider led cate- gory which leads to a much different perspective than Love and best wishes on your special day Mom & Dad xxx000 1111 '1 1' 111 the community led teams. The main issue with the annual budgets is the lack of control by the FHT to deter- mine what is best for their particular circumstances and community. They are required to stay within budget while having the budget areas inflexible in that if there is a surplus in one category they are not allowed to move those funds to cover a deficit in another category. An overriding fac- tor is that the Province claws back any surplus funds from the preceding year. For example, if a team is short of a specific type of health care worker the salary for that worker is not used for that year. In the following year the Province claws back the amount not used which then puts the FHT in the position of not being able to fill that position in the future as the funds are lost. This loss is then felt across the entire budget as there is less fund- ing overall. To try to over- come this hurdle, many FHT are advised at the end of the fiscal year to quickly find ways of spending money not yet spent to avoid losing it, while staying within the cat- egories in the budget. Some teams advised that it could be as hectic as being told they have 24 hours to spend a set amount of money, have receipts from the suppliers in their hands and processed through the system. This takes away opportunity for research, planning, obtain- ing bids or even going for the best deal as it sometimes comes down to going with the supplier who can pro- vide the immediate receipt and makes it impossible to keep a cushion of funds for identified needs. In essence, the FHT are being penalized for being efficient. When asked what would make the most difference for the FHT going forward, other than the compensa- tion piece, it was agreed that more staff was needed across all teams. In zeroing in on the highest need it was explained that there is no way for anyone to have someone to cover for them for holidays, sick days, meetings, training and such as there is just nobody on staff who is not already working their full schedule. There is also a very great need for more staff to serve patients who do not have their own family doctor and for those with mental health issues. This plays out as too long of wait times for social work and access to Nurse Practitioners. Both Thompson and Wil- son expressed shock when advised that the FHT are /It PARK 'NEAR E c 2 —.7 • --(SADDERICH 5tg 524 7Bil 11% - .F011 MOVIE IINTORIVATJON.., www.movielinks.ca k...vmatheil1-1300-265-3438 frustrated with having to fill out questionnaires for fund- ing from the province that do not even address the reality of the field. The questions are broad which makes many of the answers ambig- uous, giving poor data. Another surprise is that not all statistics are included in reports to the province. Only statistics on doctor and nurse practitioner visits are counted. Many patient care services will never show up in those statistics, the most glaring of which is the num- ber of people on the wait lists as orphan patients. Thompson and Wilson concluded by promising that they will take these concerns back with them to parliament. Thompson pointed out that "I am incredibly impressed with rural health care compared to urban. There is a lack of health care but it is prompt and caring." Wilson advised that the fastest and most effective way to make changes to the legislation regarding Family Health Teams is to have eve- ryone's friends, families and clients send letters and e-mails to everyone in politi- cal office they can think of and to collect petitions from clients. Thompson offered to draft a petition for use by the teams through her office. Both emphasized that the changes being made to legis- lation surrounding mental health have come about due to the heart -wrenching sto- ries of individuals received and read into parliament. It is these individual stories that need to be sent by those who are served by the FHT. All are read and many will be read into parliament to edu- cate those in power that rural health care is very dif- ferent from urban. They need to be treated as sepa- rate entities. Wilson advised that, although e -malls do not have to be answered to by parliament, petitions do have to be answered within 24 days, even if it turns out to be a non -answer. Thompson and Wilson are determined to bring the issues facing rural Family Health Teams to the forefront. As Thomp- son says, "If we are not on top of it, it will spiral like energy has." Government must be held accountable. ..... ...— ...... Ire 1111 ii II I • I The Lucknow Sentinel Birthday Club Kealan Conley November 22, 2003 - 11 years old Sean Hogan November 24, 2004 - 10 years old 11 Tristan Bender November 25, 2008 - 6 years old Your child can be a member of the Sentinel's birthday club call 519-528-2822 to register iiekuw Senliuei 619 Campbell Street 519288 IN THE CLASSIFIEDS take immediately to woo professionals would not be allowed to be reversed in the future when the problem is corrected, leaving teams stuck with incentives they can no longer afford. The second most debili- tating issue for FHT is the inability for the FHT Boards to make decisions that would benefit their team as their hands are tied by Min- istry guidelines. This extends to the annual budg- ets. Adding to the confusion is that there are 3 models of FHT Boards in operation: provider led, community led and mixed with both providers and community members. The lack of an overall model means that there are no guidelines or continuity built into the FHT system. The majority are in the provider led cate- gory which leads to a much different perspective than Love and best wishes on your special day Mom & Dad xxx000 1111 '1 1' 111 the community led teams. The main issue with the annual budgets is the lack of control by the FHT to deter- mine what is best for their particular circumstances and community. They are required to stay within budget while having the budget areas inflexible in that if there is a surplus in one category they are not allowed to move those funds to cover a deficit in another category. An overriding fac- tor is that the Province claws back any surplus funds from the preceding year. For example, if a team is short of a specific type of health care worker the salary for that worker is not used for that year. In the following year the Province claws back the amount not used which then puts the FHT in the position of not being able to fill that position in the future as the funds are lost. This loss is then felt across the entire budget as there is less fund- ing overall. To try to over- come this hurdle, many FHT are advised at the end of the fiscal year to quickly find ways of spending money not yet spent to avoid losing it, while staying within the cat- egories in the budget. Some teams advised that it could be as hectic as being told they have 24 hours to spend a set amount of money, have receipts from the suppliers in their hands and processed through the system. This takes away opportunity for research, planning, obtain- ing bids or even going for the best deal as it sometimes comes down to going with the supplier who can pro- vide the immediate receipt and makes it impossible to keep a cushion of funds for identified needs. In essence, the FHT are being penalized for being efficient. When asked what would make the most difference for the FHT going forward, other than the compensa- tion piece, it was agreed that more staff was needed across all teams. In zeroing in on the highest need it was explained that there is no way for anyone to have someone to cover for them for holidays, sick days, meetings, training and such as there is just nobody on staff who is not already working their full schedule. There is also a very great need for more staff to serve patients who do not have their own family doctor and for those with mental health issues. This plays out as too long of wait times for social work and access to Nurse Practitioners. Both Thompson and Wil- son expressed shock when advised that the FHT are /It PARK 'NEAR E c 2 —.7 • --(SADDERICH 5tg 524 7Bil 11% - .F011 MOVIE IINTORIVATJON.., www.movielinks.ca k...vmatheil1-1300-265-3438 frustrated with having to fill out questionnaires for fund- ing from the province that do not even address the reality of the field. The questions are broad which makes many of the answers ambig- uous, giving poor data. Another surprise is that not all statistics are included in reports to the province. Only statistics on doctor and nurse practitioner visits are counted. Many patient care services will never show up in those statistics, the most glaring of which is the num- ber of people on the wait lists as orphan patients. Thompson and Wilson concluded by promising that they will take these concerns back with them to parliament. Thompson pointed out that "I am incredibly impressed with rural health care compared to urban. There is a lack of health care but it is prompt and caring." Wilson advised that the fastest and most effective way to make changes to the legislation regarding Family Health Teams is to have eve- ryone's friends, families and clients send letters and e-mails to everyone in politi- cal office they can think of and to collect petitions from clients. Thompson offered to draft a petition for use by the teams through her office. Both emphasized that the changes being made to legis- lation surrounding mental health have come about due to the heart -wrenching sto- ries of individuals received and read into parliament. It is these individual stories that need to be sent by those who are served by the FHT. All are read and many will be read into parliament to edu- cate those in power that rural health care is very dif- ferent from urban. They need to be treated as sepa- rate entities. Wilson advised that, although e -malls do not have to be answered to by parliament, petitions do have to be answered within 24 days, even if it turns out to be a non -answer. Thompson and Wilson are determined to bring the issues facing rural Family Health Teams to the forefront. As Thomp- son says, "If we are not on top of it, it will spiral like energy has." Government must be held accountable.