Sudbury Northern Life
The Honourable David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, announced a new Home Care Strategy for Ontario on Tuesday. The government recognizes the value of community-based care within the system, and is improving the quality and transparency of services it provides, a press release stated.
The strategy includes province-wide quality measures and a public reporting system that will strengthen the way the North East Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) makes arrangements for home care services, provides information and referrals to community-related services, and authorizes admission to long-term care homes.
This strategy strengthens accountability for home care services among service providers and CCACs by implementing quality measures and a public reporting system, the press release stated. It will also effectively improve the current CCAC competitive bidding process to ensure consistent, quality care for clients and to enhance transparency and fairness in the selection of service providers.
The strategy effectively expands the role of CCACs by:
- Allowing CCACs to manage the placement of persons into programs, facilities or residential settings, ie: supportive housing;
- Adding respiratory therapy services and pharmacy services to the list of CCAC professional services for specific groups;
- Enabling more flexibility in how services are provided; multi-disciplinary health care teams will provide a more integrated care experience for clients and families across the northeast.
“Through today’s announcement, the Minister has effectively empowered the North East CCAC to create a more seamless experience through the health system for the people in our diverse communities by enabling us to co-ordinate access to broader range of services and care settings,” said Richard Joly, executive director of the North East CCAC.
“This is a historic moment for home care in Ontario and we welcome the challenge of improving the quality and transparency of services by working together with our health care partners to create a more integrated care experience for our clients.”
The North East CCAC is part of a network of 14 CCACs, created by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, to help people access government-funded home care services and long-term care homes. They also help people to navigate the array of community support and health agencies in northeastern communities.
