Province adds three health teams in northeastern Ont.

The Ontario government has approved three new Ontario health teams in northeastern Ontario that will better connect people to care in their community.

In a news release Thursday, the province said Ontario health teams ensure people can move between health-care providers more easily with one patient record and one plan that follows them wherever they go.

The three new Ontario health teams are located in Cochrane (serving Chapleau, Cochrane, Matheson, Iroquois Falls, Hearst, Hornepayne, Missinabie, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls, and Timmins); Sudbury (serving Greater Sudbury and Sudbury East, Espanola, Manitoulin, Elliot Lake, and surrounding areas); and, Timiskaming (serving the Timiskaming District and surrounding region).

“Across the province, Ontario health teams are transforming the way people in Ontario access care and play a critical role in building a more convenient and better-connected health care system,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones is quoted as saying in a news release.

“With the approval of these three new teams, our government is ensuring providers work together to provide people faster and easier access to the care they need, when they need it.”

This expansion will help people in northeastern Ontario better understand their health-care history, ease their transition from one provider to another, directly connect them to different types of care and provide 24/7 help in navigating the health-care system.

Ontario health teams together bring health-care providers from across health and community sectors including primary care, hospitals, home and community care, and mental health and addiction services as one collaborative team to better coordinate care and share resources.

The province is spending more than $109 million on the Ontario health teams and other health service providers are also investing in digital and virtual care options so people in Ontario can easily connect with a health-care worker from the comfort of their home.

Under Ontario health teams, health-care providers (including hospitals, doctors, and home and community care providers) work as one coordinated team – no matter where they provide care.

More details can be found here.