Over the past year, the Ontario Ministry of Health has launch
six new Family Health Teams in the city of Toronto, bringing the total number of the innovative, prevention-focused healthcare outlets in the city to 21. Ministry of Health communications officer David Jensen says the new offices will create 66 new positions—46 for health professionals and 20 for administrators—bringing the number of new jobs created by Family Health Teams in Toronto to 331.
Family Health Teams, Jensen describes by email, "are locally driven family healthcare delivery organizations that include family physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, dieticians and a range of other interdisciplinary healthcare providers working collaboratively to provide comprehensive, accessible, coordinated family healthcare. As a collaborative team practice, FHTs emphasize health promotion, disease prevention and chronic disease management. FHTs use information technology as the backbone of system integration, linking patient records across different healthcare settings giving providers timely access to test results and other important data."
According to the Ministry of Health, the 21 branches in Toronto will serve 316,000 patients, including 86,000 who previously did not have a family doctor.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: David Jensen, Communications Branch, Ontario Ministry of Health