New funding structure for physicians serving First Nations and regional hospital in the Sioux Lookout Area
Press release
New funding structure for physicians in the Sioux Lookout Area - IMPROVING ACCESS TO PHYSICIAN SERVICES
Sioux Lookout, ON, July 14, 2010
An agreement was signed between Sioux Lookout Regional Physician Services Inc. (SLRPSI) and the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care which provides a new funding structure for physicians in the Sioux Lookout area. The agreement concluded five years of planning and negotiations on how physician services in the Sioux Lookout area would operate and includes a provision that will see an increase in community-based physician visits. SLRPSI Board Chair John Cutfeet explains that the agreement “brings the Sioux Lookout zone closer to achieving the goals set forth in the Anishinabe Health Plan (AHP). It balances services while also stabilizing and supporting physician services at the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre (SLMHC).”
SLRPSI is a corporation founded to plan, govern and manage physician services in the Sioux Lookout area. The corporation was established in January 2010 and has a nine member board, with 1/3 representation from the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA), 1/3 representation from SLMHC and 1/3 representation from physicians. SLRPSI will have a management agreement with SLFNHA to support SLRPSI with the implementation of physician’s services.
The new corporation recently recruited two new physicians and they already have begun working in the communities. The new physicians will provide an increase in community based physician days and services for the region. Additional physicians are actively being recruited.
Mr. Cutfeet commented that this agreement supports and maintains a balance between community visits and hospital work for the physicians. “Having the physicians in the community more often is a priority for us but we had to make sure that those visits would not come at the expense of physicians taking care of patients in the hospital,” says Cutfeet.
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For more information, please contact:
Chris Jefferson, Assistant Communications Officer Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority
(807) 737.6120
Irene Dube, Communications Officer
Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority
(807) 737.6124