There’s no word yet from the province on a proposal to merge area health units, leaving a “pretty short” runway for implementation given an initial targeted timeline of Jan. 1, 2025, says local medical officer of health Dr. Natalie Bocking.
Bocking, who also serves at the helm of the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit as CEO, spoke to the proposed merger between HKPR and Peterborough Public Health while delivering a public health update at a Northumberland County community health committee meeting Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Her update covered off an array of items such as progress under public health initiatives, programs and services in Northumberland, rollout of new initiatives like data dashboards, as well as a spotlight on public health issues like emergency preparedness, the drug poisoning crisis, climate change impacts on health, re-emerging infectious diseases, and efforts under early childhood development. When delving into a look at the future, this is where Bocking touched on the latest for the potential merger.
In February, both boards of health for the two health units passed motions in support of a merger.
“The intent was subject to the province providing approval and sufficient funding,” explains Bocking, while also highlighting how in order for health units to merge, it requires regulatory change under the Health Protection and Promotion Act – the legislation the creates boards of health.
Bocking laid out what has happened since those February motions passed – and seemed to hint that implementation as originally envisioned may pose challenges.
Talk of mergers followed last August amid the provincial “strengthening public health” policy direction, which Bocking also spoke to.
As previously reported, the Ministry of Health announced the shift around this time in 2023, opening the door for voluntary mergers for small- and medium-sized health units, saying one-time funding, resources and support would be provided to public health agencies looking at voluntarily merging to streamline and reinvest back into expanding programs and services by January 2025.
In response, local boards – similarly to those in the east that are also reportedly still waiting – advanced down the path of exploring impacts of a voluntary merger. A joint board merger exploration working group was established earlier and with help from an external consulting firm, a feasibility and assessment report was also compiled.
In the HKPR area – covering Northumberland (the largest population), Kawartha and Haliburton – public health serves about 188,000 residents. Services are handled by roughly 170-plus full- and part-time staff, as well as casual and contract employees.
The provincial announcement also coincided with a vow for increased funding for agencies and other components.
Bocking also spoke to those items in her recent address, touching on the review of Ontario Public Health Standards and a review of the funding formula – again, saying staff are still waiting to hear more from the province on these items.
Recommendations, including around health unit’s work and requirements (i.e. a closer look possibly at some of the work being done or not done at the public health level, or areas that might need further work) could still also follow findings from these reviews, the committee heard.
At this time of year, there were hopes “more specifics” could be shared, meeting attendees heard.
The core functions of public health include communicable and infectious disease control, environmental health, health promotion, population health assessment and surveillance and emergency preparedness.
The committee recommended that county council receive Bocking’s Northumberland public health update for information purposes.
During the update, Bocking also noted HKPR is still waiting on 2024 budget approval.
(Written by: Sarah Hyatt)
