Reforming our homecare system

Re Urgent need for home-care task force,

Opinion Sept. 27

Thanks to Bob Hepburn for keeping the focus on how fractured our homecare system really is, as pointed out in Bonnie Lysyk’s recent report. This is something that has been known for years yet governments are reluctant to take a bold stand and do something that works.

Yes, Mike Harris’ government gave the city six Community Care Access Centres (CCAC) when they should have amalgamated them into one, like he did in creating a mega city.

Of course, when the Liberals came into power, not only did they keep the same model, but they added another layer of bureaucracy called Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).

One of them has to go. Since the LHINs hold the purse strings, the CCAC is the most likely one to be phased out.

If we want to keep people at home, we must find a way to deliver care that works, provide more workers at the care delivery level and reduce unnecessary administration. However, I disagree with spending more money implement- ing yet another task force. Just hire the right person to get on with making the necessary changes. Jill L. O’Donnell, consultant on seniors issues, Toronto

Working as a home palliative care physician for the past 20 years, and more recently as a medical adviser to a CCAC, I think the vast majority of my patients would tell you that their care co-ordinator is indeed a front-line service provider. Including the care co-ordinator, 90 per cent of funds do go to direct patient care.

Further, I find it shocking that there has been no mention of the fact that the Liberal government, for political reasons, froze the CCAC contracting process 10 years ago. How can we expect the CCACs to streamline services and contracts when the government forbids it?

I can still order a pain pump for a dying patient at home and have it up and running faster than some hospitals can. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Dr. Russell Goldman, Toronto