Toronto, ON (December 2, 2019) – Today, the Honourable Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health announced North York Toronto Health Partners (NYTHP) as an official Ontario Health Team (OHT). In achieving this pivotal milestone, NYTHP is delivering on the provincial government’s commitment to strengthen local services, making it easier for patients to navigate the system and transition between providers.
OHTs are focused on improving how we deliver care to our local community by creating new and better partnerships among different health care organizations.
The North York Toronto Health Partners includes 21 core, 130 primary care providers and 30 alliance members who represent almost every aspect of the entire continuum of care. Our vision reflects the needs of patients and caregivers, who have been front and centre, sharing their perspectives, with an equal say in the decisions made by the partnership.
Our goal is to ensure seamless care for the North York Community. North York Toronto Health Partners will start by focusing on patient groups with more complex and higher needs, including frail seniors, those with mental health and addiction issues, and those at end of life. During the first year of enrolling patients our work will centre on providing high quality care for these groups as close to home as possible and around the clock.
By recognizing the need to support and empower communities, Ontario Health Teams are leveraging local expertise and giving control back to patients, caregivers and providers to codesign the transformation of care.
QUICK FACTS:
· North York Toronto Health Partners includes 21 core and 30 alliance partners from across the care continuum
· Patient and caregiver partners have been embedded in the co-design of all working groups, projects and at the core table of NYTHP
· 130 primary care physicians have been engaged, representing over 120,000 patients
· 12 Year 1 initiatives are underway:
- Mental Health and Addictions (projects include: integrated access hub for community-based mental health services, expanding Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinics, mental health and addictions “help-desk” for all community members
- Seniors (seamless care coordination aligned with primary care, and for those with intensive clinical needs in Heart Failure, COPD and dementia)
- Palliative (in-home palliative outreach, palliative supports in long term care, and creating a “compassionate North York”
- Primary care (virtual primary care, increased access to specialists and allied health and scaling up digital tools)
· North York is home to a high proportion of seniors living alone who have difficulties with activities of daily living
· North York is a diverse urban community, with 59.5% visible minority; 59% do not identify English as their mother-tongue, common languages in North York include Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Russian and Tagalog
QUOTES:
“In North York Toronto Health Partners, the fundamentals of true patient-centred care are defined by patients and include respect, dignity, information sharing and collaboration in the form of partnership.”
Maggie Keresteci, North York Toronto Health Partners Patient, Family & Caregiver Advisor
“With primary care at the core of the North York Toronto Health Partners development, we now have widespread collaboration between community physicians and 21 different organizations who are actively participating as a single team of providers delivering seamless care to our patients.”
Dr. Maria Muraca, North York Toronto Health Partners Primary Care Co-Chair
For more information about North York Toronto Health Partners please visit:
www.northyorktorontohealthpartners.ca
For additional communication information:
Emily Hope
Senior Manager, Quality and Decision Support
ehope@betterlivinghealth.org