Chatham-Kent residents are being promised better primary health care over the next five years.
The Chatham-Kent Ontario Health Team (CKOHT) held a news conference on Thursday afternoon to launch its 2025-2030 strategic plan. The number one priority is to strengthen primary health care, including home and community care with more supports.
CKOHT Executive Transformation Lead Melissa Sharpe-Harrigan said home care, which is a provincial responsibility, is starting to play a larger role in primary health care.
"We will see more transitions in home care and why home care has landed in our strategic plan is we want to be, as an OHT, in the room when that happens. We want to be part of those conversations provincially, but also continue to build relationships locally with some of those home care providers," said Sharpe-Harrigan.
She noted that a primary care network will also be launched to address needs and gaps in the system and to support primary health care with programs and funding.
Sharpe-Harrigan said the plan also aims to improve patient connection and navigation through the healthcare system.
"That will make sure that nobody has a wrong door when they are coming into the health care system. It shouldn't matter if you're seeing someone at the hospital or working through social services, our partners at the OHT should be able to navigate patients and their caregivers and family members to the right service across the continuum of the health care system," she said.
Sharpe-Harrigan said other strategic plan priorities are to have a high performing and accountable team by optimizing data and better health equity and inclusion by strengthening Indigenous partnerships.
"We will take risks and be bold in our project work, we will use continuous improvement cycles to refine our progress and make things better, and we will always be looking for the next opportunity to improve the patient and caregiver experience in Chatham-Kent," Sharpe-Harrigan said.
The Sharpe-Harrigan also noted a network in Southwestern Ontario is targeting internationally trained doctors to work in places like Chatham-Kent, particularly doctors with a focus on rural settings.
She noted that more than 800 health care partners and members of the public shared input and thoughts to help formulate the new plan and to co-design health care.
This is CKOHT's second strategic plan.
