The Guelph and Area OHT has intentionally leveraged the expertise of our existing leadership teams, including Directors, Coordinators and front-line clinicians, who have all meaningfully contributed to the co-design of our Year 1 proposal and planning. The draw on their leadership and corresponding time investments are expected to only increase over time. As system leaders we will require ultimate flexibility within existing protected budget lines (i.e. physician funding, administrative “targets” etc.) such that we can reallocate funds to effectively to back fill these critical roles. Doing so will strengthen our achievements in Year 1 while simultaneously ensuring that existing organizational access/care, accountabilities and processes do not suffer amidst this acute period of change management.
Decision support is a critical resource to ensure we develop a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics and health status/outcomes of our attributed population. Accessibility to MOH and LHIN decision support staff will be critical as this additional demand and expertise is not currently available through our partner organizations.
In response to the specific question about what LHIN resources would be supportive of Guelph and Area OHT Year 1 Implementation Plans, the following have been identified:
- Care Coordinators who are currently supporting Guelph and Area
- H&CC team assistant staff who are currently supporting Guelph and Area (to support non-clinical/administrative functions of the IPCTs)
- Rapid Response Nurse(s)
- Director (to lead OHT implementation)
- Program assistant
- Decision support
The following is a list of non-financial resources or supports that our team has identified as being helpful both in Year 1 and long term as we progress on our journey to becoming a mature OHT:
- Resources to ensure capacity for the required organizational development, decision support and communications.
- Professional consultation re: governance development, ie. Anne Corbett’s services.
- OHT Staff Development including:
- Shared training opportunities for the required change management and culture development required in Year 1 and beyond.
- Change management support & facilitation for staff working in an integrated primary care setting (i.e., Guelph CHC) as they learn to work as one integrated healthcare team.
- Tiered Framework and Brain Injury training for mental health and addictions providers.
- Additional change management support from the eHealth Centre of Excellence for virtual care and implementing best practices.
- Support from Ontario Health to connect additional information sources (mental health and addiction information from CMHAWW and Homewood, primary care data from primary care teams) to the electronic health record (ClinicalConnect).
- Continued access to RISE to receive regular updates on best practices/ideas or challenges experienced by other OHT’s or international jurisdictions to quickly learn from, solve/resolve issues and course correct as need be.