My fellow family physicians,
Happy new year! As we begin 2020, I wanted to give you all a snapshot of the activities that have kept the OCFP busy, as we work to achieve our vision: Leaders for a Healthy Ontario .
Being a Champion For You
No patient or practice left behind - the ongoing lack of team-based care for all family physicians cannot continue. And while the OHTs hold promise of creating a more coordinated system, we continue to emphasize the need to engage with family doctors on the ground and in leadership positions. Without this, OHTs will most certainly fail. The concepts of our "patient medical home" are embedded in the Ministry's OHT vision, but the details need work. We are amplifying the voice of the 75% without access to family health teams at all the Ministry tables we attend.
With the shift towards OHTs, we want to ensure you to have the information and resources you need to make the best decisions for your practice and patients - one such example is our two-pager on OHTs to assist you as you consider how and when to get involved.
We are working with the Section on General and Family Practice and the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario to have a unified voice of family medicine at Ministry and other stakeholder tables.
Taking a page from the UK's primary care transformation efforts, we are sharing the high impact ideas for family physician efficiency and learning from each other virtually - through our quarterly Primary Care Virtual Community meetings connecting hundreds of providers from across the province. Join our growing community, hosted by The Change Foundation, by completing this registration form - our next session is planned for February 13.
You shared your perspectives on the CPSO's Continuity of Care Policy and we, in turn, shared that input with the CPSO. As well, along with with the College of Family Physicians of Canada, we provided feedback on proposed amendments to RN prescribing, and together with the Section on General and Family Practice and the OMA, wrote to the Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, about having care coordination anchored in primary care that also supports navigation.
Education
We had our successful yearly November conference (the Annual Scientific Assembly), free of pharma funding in an effort to reduce potential bias. Plan to attend this highly practical conference next year and stay tuned for exciting changes! In the meantime, check out this fabulous video of your peers at the conference talking about why they love being family doctors: https://vimeo.com/380342466.
We delivered 30 CPD events for 1,565 family doctors in seven regions, including our popular Practising Wisely course. Practising Wisely is being spread across the country with support from our National College. As well, three regions requested and brought OCFP workshops to their own communities.
We are hosting more CPD webinars (20 last year) and we are starting to adapt our courses to include online offerings, having heard from many of you that you enjoy virtual learning opportunities.
Our Clinical Tools and Resources Advisory Committee is curating tools and resources to make the OCFP website a go-to place for reliable and updated information. We have collaborated with the Centre for Effective Practice on more than 20 tools over three years.
The Mentoring Networks are providing members with mentorship in the often challenging areas of addictions, complex pain and mental health, leadership, early years, rural medicine, MAiD, and end-of-life care.
Engaging With You
Member research - nearly 1,100 members responded to our survey and we also held seven focus groups. Among the takeaways, you need help with accessing counselling and/or social work for pain management, addictions, mental health and complex aging patients. On a practice level, administrative burden and access to specialists were your top frustrations. You have said you are looking for clinical tools and online learning but also that conferences provide collegial connections.
Connections
- Our website has been updated: www.ontariofamilyphysicians.ca
- Our monthly eNews is meant to connect with you without overburdening you with too many emails.
- Are you on Twitter? So am I! Follow me @Ontario_President
All this work is being done by an organization that has 20 committed employees, working to bring value to members. The volunteer Board is engaged and professional and reflects carefully on the execution of the strategic plan. It is such a privilege to be part of making this organization as effective as possible.
I am grateful to live in Ontario, to be part of this profession of family medicine and to be able to serve the profession and, by extension, the people of this province. I look forward to 2020 with a commitment to keep the vision of "Leaders for a Healthy Ontario" as my guiding principle.
All the best to you and your families. Be safe, be healthy, be kind - to yourselves and to one another.
Jennifer
Questions? Please share feedback with Dr. Young by emailing: [email protected]