Regional health unit could serve area between Windsor and Oxford County, MLHU says
The new health unit could serve about 1.3 million people: Middlesex-London Health Unit
A new regional health unit could merge five existing health units and serve a region between Windsor and Oxford County, according to Chris Mackie, the medical officer of health at the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU).
The health units affected include the MLHU, Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit, Lambton Public Health Unit and Southwestern Public Health. Mackie said these health units "recently learned" about the plan from the province.
Altogether, the region could serve a population of about 1.3 million people, Mackie said.
"It does give a new public health entity a greater reach, greater capacity to do the work," said Mackie, who said the existing health units would dissolve and staff would be reincorporated into a new entity.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care said that consolidation into new regional health units is a certainty, but that the province cannot yet confirm specifics.
"The specific boundaries of the new regional health units will be finalized in consultation with municipalities through technical working groups, which we expect to launch shortly," said Hayley Chazan, press secretary for Minister Christine Elliott.
"Through these technical working groups, we will also work with our municipal partners to design governance and delivery models that protect and preserve the voice of all municipalities."
Health unit avoiding layoffs: Mackie
The province's 2019 budget includes a plan to reduce the number of local health units from 35 to 10, and implement a $200 million reduction in funding over the next two to three years. Municipalities are expected to kick in more money to compensate.
"The province is offering some one-time funding to offset that, and so it's really not entirely clear what the impact will be on the municipalities for 2019," Mackie said.
The MLHU has taken steps to ensure it has some wiggle room in its budget, and is doing "everything possible" to avoid layoffs, Mackie said.
In the meantime, Mackie said he's instructing staff to continue doing their work and to take care of their mental well-being.
"Maintaining our ability to do our work and the morale and productivity of our staff is a really important priority right now," he said.
London as possible hub
Mackie said he doesn't expect the health unit's planned move to Citi Plaza to be affected by the merger. He said he believes the lease could be a "strong asset" for a new regional health unit.
In fact, Mackie added that he could see London acting as a hub within the new system due to the city's size and the quality of the MLHU.
"We have a high quality operation, we've got a very lean back office, we've got great capacity for epidemiological work, we've got great communications infrastructure so I certainly see the Middlesex-London organization being a leader in whatever new region comes into play," he said.