Hospital leaders will get their first look at a document this week which will change how health care is delivered in Ontario.
South Bruce-Grey Health Centre CEO Paul Davies says a new systematic approach is being planned where not all local hospitals will offer the same services.
The new blueprint will mean a re-alignment of where some services are provided, and where doctors refer patients to.
Davies says the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) will not necessarily make these decisions arbitrarily, but rather through restricting financial support to a hospital corporation, forcing them to make the decisions.
He notes it is now the LHIN’s repsonsibility for setting the general pattern for hospital programs and services.
Davies says legislation allows the LHIN to plan and fund health care providers, but also requires hospital agenices to sign an agreement to remain financially stable.
How services are allocated will depend strongly on statistics showing which health problems are most common in the region, along with factors like age and population growth.
Davies notes Ministry of Health Officials have commented to him that Grey-Bruce has a very high density of local hospitals.