Archive for February, 2009

Please see below links to Dr. Harterre’s appearance on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin on Wednesday February 25, 2009.

Click on the links below to see the recent news coverage of Peterborough’s feature at Queen’s Park that included Primary Health Care Services of Peterborough.

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplayGenContent.aspx?e=11090

February 12, 2009 – The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care announced earlier today that in an effort to reduce the number of unattached patients in Ontario they have created a program called Health Care Connect and are asking all unattached patients to call 1-800-445-1822 to register for the unattached patient database.   It is critical that all unattached patients in Peterborough City and County area, even if they have already registered with Primary Health Care Services of Peterborough, register with this program to ensure their prioritization on the new provincial database as the database that has been kept in Peterborough is non-transferrable.  Patients on the Health Care Connects database will then be prioritized based on their health care needs and RN Care Connectors will endeavour to place these patients in a family physician practice in their area. 

“We currently have 3,400 unattached families on our database that will need to phone 1-800-445-1822 to register on the new provincial database,” said Dr. Don Harterre, Physician Lead, Primary Health Care Services of Peterborough.  “It’s wonderful to see the rest of the province participating in a registration process to identify unattached patients and to actively place them with a family doctor as we have been doing here in Peterborough since 2006.  We have been maintaining a community database since the inception of Family Health Teams and as a result 17,000 previously unattached patients have been placed amongst our 5 Family Health Teams.  However, there are still approximately  5,500 people in the Peterborough area registered on our database and as well as others that we have not heard from.  It is essential that regardless of their status on our list that everyone without a family doctor register with the Health Care Connects program.” 

Health Care Connect is a program launched by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to help Ontarians without a family health care provider find one.  The program refers people without a regular family health care provider to physicians and nurse practitioners who are accepting new patients within their community.  After an individual has registered with Health Care Connect a nurse called a Care Connector will be assigned to each unattached patient to assist them in finding a health care provider in their area.  All individuals registering with Health Care Connect must have a valid OHIP card to participate in the program.

“As a community we are leading the way in the success of Family Health Teams, particularly in the identification and placement of unattached patients,” said Bill Casey, Executive Director, Primary Health Care Services of Peterborough.  “We are very pleased to see the province take on an initiative such as this one that will result in other communities seeing the benefits of having a centralized unattached patient database has on a community in the engagement of these individuals and placement within family practice settings.”

All unattached patients must call 1-800-445-1822 to register for the new provincial database including all individuals that have already registered with Primary Health Care Services of Peterborough as this information is non-transferrable.  More information is available on-line at www.ontario.ca/healthcareoptions