{"id":8084,"date":"2019-05-31T10:47:13","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T14:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=8084"},"modified":"2020-05-03T21:15:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T01:15:23","slug":"durham-health-unit-merging-with-three-other-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/durham-health-unit-merging-with-three-other-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Durham health unit merging with three other agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

(May 21, 2019)<\/span><\/p>\n

By: Dave Flaherty, The Oshawa Express<\/p>\n

Durham\u2019s health department will be amalgamated with three others under a proposed plan by the province.<\/p>\n

In its 2019 budget, the Ford government announced it would take Ontario\u2019s 35 public health units and merge them into 10 regional planning groups.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed plan, Durham would join with the Peterborough, Prince Edward-Hastings, and Kawartha-Haliburton-Pine Ridge health units.<\/p>\n

The regional body would serve Durham, the City of Peterborough and Peterborough County, the City of Kawartha Lakes, and the counties of Northumberland, Haliburton, Prince Edward, and Hastings.<\/p>\n

The proposed changes are set to take place in April 2020.<\/p>\n

It is estimated this move will save the province approximately $200 million per year.<\/p>\n

Dr. Robert Kyle, medical officer of health for Durham Region, said his department is aware of the boundary changes but it remains unclear what the full impact will be.<\/p>\n

With little information, Kyle said it is far too early to say whether the merger is a good or bad idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose there are pros and cons to every idea,\u201d Kyle noted.<\/p>\n

He said in its current existence, Durham Health receives services such as IT, finance and human resources from the region for a nominal fee.<\/p>\n

Under the new system, Kyle said, \u201cWe\u2019d have to untangle ourselves from the region, and then get services from the regional entity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t really have the assets that we can contribute to a regional entity. There are real challenges in terms of pooling current assets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It is also unclear how the 10 new regional health departments will be governed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole issue of executive leadership, what does it look like? Who is in charge?\u201d he asks, adding it remains to be seen whether services that are currently provided locally will continue to be.<\/p>\n

In terms of staffing, Kyle explains each health department has different collective bargaining agreements with employees.<\/p>\n

These agreements would likely need to be renegotiated.<\/p>\n

While cost savings have been identified as the driving force behind the government\u2019s plans, Kyle has some serious doubts whether this goal will be achieved.<\/p>\n

In his 30 years as a medical officer of health, he has overseen the merger of numerous paramedic departments in Durham Region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you, there were no savings there,\u201d Kyle said.<\/p>\n

He admits he was caught off guard when he learned about the proposed amalgamations.<\/p>\n

The plans mirror those proposed by the previous Liberal government in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was panned universally by the entire public health community, not because people were trying to preserve their own situations, but you are talking massive interruptions for little gain over a long amount of time,\u201d Kyle said.<\/p>\n

Durham\u2019s top doctor believes the status of public health in Ontario is the strongest it\u2019s ever been, and wonders if the province\u2019s plan are really needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disruption that lies ahead is unprecedented in my judgement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But the larger issue in Kyle\u2019s eyes are the cuts to public health, which equate to about $750 million over a three year period.<\/p>\n

The timing of these measures \u2013 shortly after the region passed its own budget \u2013 has left the municipality with \u201climited opportunity\u201d to absorb the cuts, he states.<\/p>\n

Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, is extremely concerned about the province\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no recommendation to do this that I\u2019m aware of that in any way has measured the impact on public health or anything in the public interest,\u201d Mehra told The Oshawa Express. \u201cPublic health is vitally important \u2013 the services they provide are hugely health promotional and preventable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mehra states the impact of public health departments is evident by their role in addressing the outbreak of Ebola, SARS and the E.coli crisis in Walkerton almost two decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know more epidemics and pandemics are coming,\u201d Mehra says.<\/p>\n

Under the current system, the Durham Region Health Department provides services and programs to the region\u2019s population of roughly 646,000 people according to the 2016 Census.<\/p>\n

Under the government\u2019s plans, the regional health department that will include Durham will serve more than 1 million people spanning east from the Bay of Quinte, west to Pickering, and north to county cottage in Haliburton.<\/p>\n

Read Full Article Here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(May 21, 2019) By: Dave Flaherty, The Oshawa Express Durham\u2019s health department will be amalgamated with three others under a proposed plan by the province. In its 2019 budget, the Ford government announced it would take Ontario\u2019s 35 public health units and merge them into 10 regional planning groups. Under the proposed plan, Durham would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-events","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDurham health unit merging with three other agencies - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(May 21, 2019) By: Dave Flaherty, The Oshawa Express Durham\u2019s health department will be amalgamated with three others under a proposed plan by the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/durham-health-unit-merging-with-three-other-agencies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Durham health unit merging with three other agencies - 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