Health unit merger will not affect services - Fedeli
Only governance will change, minister insists
![North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
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Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli insists there will be no changes to front-line health care in the province.
But that does not mean there will be no changes to the structure of health units in the province, Fedeli, Ontario’s Finance minister, said Wednesday.
“We have to make changes” to the organizational structure of health units to make them sustainable, Fedeli said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Fedeli was responding to comments by the medical officer of health for the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit concerning loss of funding and the merger of 35 provincial health units to 10.
Dr. Jim Chirico said in an interview that the province has cut funding to health units by 27 per cent.
Chirico said health units receive only 1.4 per cent of the total health care budget, and “when you take 27 per cent out of a budget that small, it’s a significant amount.”
“We are saying right across the board, front-line care is not going to change,” Fedeli said, adding in a written statement that “we are making the necessary changes to ensure that public health units are better organized, funded in a sustainable manner, and positioned to support the needs of people, families and communities across our province.”
Day-to-day functions of all health units will continue, he said.
In fact, he said, the province is adding $90 million to provide free dental care to 100,000 low-income seniors – services which will be provided by health units.
Some of that money, he said, will be directed to the local health unit to assist local low-income seniors.
Fedeli said only the governance model is changing, although legislation is not yet scheduled.
Northeastern Ontario is now served by five health units, which are expected to be rolled into one. The two health units in northwestern Ontario would also be merged into one health unit.
The move, Fedeli said, is in line with the province’s intention to find four cents worth of savings from every dollar spent.
“But we have found almost eight cents for every dollar spent,” Fedeli said, saying he expects all agencies, boards and commissions which receive provincial funding to “follow our lead.”
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