Dear triad members,
We had our regional ED check-in calls on November 17 and 18. This is a follow-up communique with the material promised on the calls, and some additional reminders, tools, and resources.
Mental health and wellbeing
- We are pleased to share that the federal government is providing one-time mental health and addictions funding to help alleviate the increase in demand and a backlog of services due to COVID-19. Approximately $3 million will be distributed to interprofessional primary care teams, including AHACs, CHCs, FHTs, and NPLCs, to increase access to mental health and addictions supports for patients in Q4.
- All FHTs will receive a minimum of $5,000, with a top-up based on roster size, to be used in Q4. Funding distribution is in the final stages of approval, and we expect teams to receive it by end of year. Teams can choose to pool this funding within regions to target areas in greatest need.
- We continue to post resources on our mental health and wellbeing page. Please check them out and encourage your staff do so as well. These are very challenging times, and we hope these resources give a bit of guidance and support.
AFHTO’s OHT and KTE supports
- AFHTO conducted seven polls on the calls to get a sense of work on the ground and where supports are needed or should focus. The results of the polls can be seen here.
- AFHTO heard loud and clear that a webinar series on OHTs would be helpful! We will organize these now and kick them off in the new year. Please email topic suggestions to Bryn Hamilton.
- We will also begin organizing KTE webinars based on your poll feedback. The top four areas of interest were patient/caregiver engagement, mental health, digital equity, and social determinants of health. If you have ideas for KTE topics, please send them to Sandeep Gill.
#PrimaryCareAlwaysThere
- We are speaking up against the narrative that primary care was or is closed during the pandemic. This includes communicating the benefits of virtual and in-person care – and that virtual care is care.
- The Twitter campaign is #PrimaryCareAlwaysThere. We encourage you share stories about how your teams supported your patients and communities and use the hashtag. Let us also know so we can share your examples with our ministry and OH colleagues during our discussions.
- Thank you to all who participated in our summer research about how primary care stepped up. Taking what we learned, we created Crossing Chasms: Primary Care Teams’ Response to COVID-19 to show the great work done by our teams. We also created a video. Please share this widely, and keep letting us know how you are supporting your communities so we can continue to highlight how pivotal primary care is in the pandemic response.
Microsoft Teams discount
- AFHTO has been exploring a group purchase of Microsoft Teams for a member discount. We have learned that the summer survey AFHTO conducted has indicated that the number of users was not enough for us to qualify for Microsoft Canada’s affiliate program.
- Ontario Health, as part of their digital strategy, is in negotiations with Microsoft Canada on an agreement to offer Microsoft 365 (which includes Teams) at a discount to healthcare providers and organizations. The discount will be extended to the broader healthcare sector, and AFHTO has initiated conversations with Ontario Health about offering this discount to AFHTO members. An update will be provided in January.
QSC patient advisor application
- AFHTO is recruiting a patient advisor representative for the AFHTO quality steering committee (QSC). Our hope is for the advisor to be a patient of one of our teams!
- More information is here. Please consider speaking with patients who you think may be interested and circulating this across your team.
Primary care patient/client and provider virtual care experience surveys
- In August, we launched the Primary Care Patient/Client Virtual Care Experience Survey for teams to capture the patient experience with virtual care. AFHTO is collecting teams’ aggregate responses to create a narrative of how virtual care could be permanently included in the patient care journey – click here to submit your data!
- There is also a patient/client survey created by Women’s College Hospital Institute of Health Systems Solutions and Virtual Care (WIHV), who is conducting a third-party evaluation of virtual care in the COVID-19 era on behalf of the ministry. You can provide the survey link to patients.
- WIHV is also conducting a third-party evaluation of virtual care in the COVID-19 era on behalf of the ministry to measure the provider experience on virtual care. Please share this short 10-15 minute online survey with all providers on your team.
- Both WIHV surveys include the opportunity to enter a draw to win one of four $50 gift cards to the Bay, Shoppers Drug Mart, or Amazon. Your participation will remain anonymous and confidential.
- If you have any questions or would like to share your current virtual patient/client survey results with WIHV, please email rebecca.liu@wchospital.ca.
- Please reach out to jamie.fujioka@wchospital.ca if you have any questions or concerns about the provider experience survey.
- This research is important as the ministry looks at the future of virtual care – please spread the word, and we encourage you to participate!
Friendly reminders
- A new agency called Supply Ontario has been created to centralize government procurement, including stabilizing access to PPE for the long term. The goal is to have the inaugural board in place early in the new year. In the meantime, a reminder that primary care can access the provincial stockpile. Even if you have more than 7 days of stock, you can access the pandemic PPE transitional support and send any questions to your regional supply chain lead.
- The Physiotherapy Clinical Education Team at Queen’s is coordinating clinical placements for 2021. If any teams have a PT in place and would be able to supervise a student, please email Melanie Law at lawm@queensu.ca.
- Please send your AOP to the ministry as soon as able. While there is no set deadline on it, we encourage teams aim to submit in before the end of the year.
This was our last round of ED check-in calls for 2020, and we look forward to connecting in the new year.
We thank and applaud you for your persistence and commitment to delivering the best quality primary care during very trying times. We hope you, your staff, and your friends and families find some down time next month to rest.
Please reach any time with questions or suggestions on how we can continue to support you.
Stay well,
Your AFHTO team