Hal Fjeldsted, CEO of Kirkland and District Hospital, and six other Northerners have been appointed to a 15-member panel charged with making recommendations for improving access to health care in rural and Northern Ontario.
The panel will look at existing programs and services, identify the challenges related to the delivery of health care in rural and Northern Ontario and report back to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care sometime this winter.
Fjeldsted, who will chair the panel, said the review will cover the entire gamut of health care, including hospitals, home care and physician services.
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has called on the provincial government to declare a moratorium on major health care restructuring decisions while the panel is deliberating and has lobbied for a formal consultation process.
“Physicians and the public need to be properly consulted before major health care decisions are made in their communities,” said OMA president Dr. Suzanne Strasberg.
Most of the legwork will be done by consultants, who will present their findings to the panel for review and comment.
Other Northerners on the panel are:
• Jocelyn Blais, project manager for Recruitment of Health Service Professionals in Hearst.
• Mike Brown, Algoma-Manitoulin MPP.
• Kathy Faries, a nurse practitioner in Moose Factory.
• Dr. Terry O’Driscoll, a family physician in Sioux Lookout.
• Raymond Pong, research director of Laurentian University’s Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research.
• Donna Williams, a registered nurse employed by Balmerton-based KO Telemedicine.
According to Fjeldsted, there was no particular incident that led to the creation of the panel.
“This is something that has been talked about for a considerable period of time, both within government and in various institutions and entities that are providing services in rural and Northern Ontario.”
