The County of Essex is submitting an application to be one the provincial government's new health teams.
The province is introducing these health teams as a new way of organizing and delivering services in local communities to work as one coordinated team no matter where care is being provided.
It would replace Local Health Integration Networks that would be part of the Ford government’s plan to restructure the Ontario health care system.
The Windsor-Essex plan would tie more than 40 health related services together such as EMS, long term care homes and the housing supports program.
County CAO Rob Maisonville tells CTV News he's not sure if our region will be selected by the Ministry of Health -- but it's worth a shot.
“We're not advocating for anything specific, we are just saying, these groups are coming together for the betterment of health in Windsor-Essex,” says Maisonville. “As we indicated, it’s better to be part of a solution than to have a solution thrust upon us."
In the Ontario budget delivered in April, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli announced overall health spending is set to rise over three years by a modest annual average of 1.6 per cent.
Under the plan, more than 20 health agencies would roll into one in a move expected to save $350 million a year by 2021-22.
That restructuring includes consolidating the province’s 35 public health units into 10 regional agencies by 2021.
It was announced this week that the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit will be part of a larger, regional entity, comprised of the Chatham-Kent, Southwestern, Lambton and Middlesex-London health units.
The proposed new service area spans 14,500 square kilometres and is responsible for meeting the needs of nearly 1.3-million residents.
