The provincial government is taking the next step in creating its new health care system.
As of December 2nd, what we now know as the Erie St Clair Local Health Integration Network will be lumped in with the larger West Ontario Health Region.
The provincial government announced this week that the 14 Local Health Integration Networks will be rolled into five provincial agencies that will begin transitioning into Ontario Health.
Nine of the LHIN CEO positions have be eliminated, with a total severance of $3-million being paid out.
Bruce Lauckner of the Waterloo Wellington LHIN will oversee the Western Region, which includes Chatham-Kent, Windsor-Essex, London, Hamilton, and the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
The government is quick to point out this is an administrative step and not a merger of boundaries at this point, stressing there will be no impact to patients’ access to home and community care or long-term care placement.