News

Family Health Team membership in AFHTO surpassed the 90% mark as of in the last week of September.  171 of Ontario's 186 FHTs have now joined. AFHTO is the voice for Family Health Teams (FHTs) in this province.

The purpose of this AFHTO-OMA collaboration is to inform both associations on the experience of physicians working in this model, and gain insight into their needs, ideas, issues and concerns.  The results will be released as part of a joint OMA/AFHTO presentation and discussion at the AFHTO 2011 Conference on Oct. 26. FHT physicians will receive the link to the on-line survey from the Lead Physician or ED of your FHT. If you have not received this link, please send an e-mail to info@afhto.ca .

Aging at home the right way: Toronto Family Health Team’s Virtual Ward is the story that appears in the October 2011 issue of Hospital News. Click here to read the  Hospital News story. Click here for more background on SETFHT's Virtual Ward.

Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research– Primary Health Care -- “TUTOR‐PHC” Program information and application forms for TUTOR-PHC are now available on TUTOR-PHC’s website at http://www.uwo.ca/fammed/csfm/tutor-phc/applications/applicationforms.html For more information about TUTOR-PHC, go to http://www.uwo.ca/fammed/csfm/tutor-

Wellington hospitals, Family Health Teams, Community Care Access Centres and Mental Health Services signed a collective agreement last Wednesday aimed at optimizing health and patient care in our rural communities. The local rural health partners include Groves Memorial Community Hospital, North Wellington Heath Care, Minto-Mapleton, Mount Forest and Upper Grand Family Health Teams, Waterloo Wellington Community Care Access Centre and Trellis Mental Health and Developmental Services.

August 31 - 6:00 PM - Toronto.  Dr. Benjamin Druss, a specialist in improving the physical health of individuals with serious mental illness will be coming to Toronto on August 31^st, 2011 to do a free evening talk. This talk is focused on individuals working in the primary care field. As the  first Rosalynn Carter Chair in Mental Health at  Emory University, Dr .

Are you, or is someone you know, a Registered Nurse currently practicing or aspiring to practice in a Family Practice/Primary Care setting? If so, you will be interested to know that George Brown College now has a new postgraduate certificate program in Family Practice Nursing for Registered Nurses. Sign up for an information session to find out more about this exciting new program.

Twenty-eight Ontarians who have looked at the inner-workings of the province's health system recommend more collaboration, integration and accountability to help ensure the sustainability of high-quality, accessible and publicly-funded health care. One of these recommendations states, "We urge the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to accelerate the expansion of integrated family health teams throughout the province." The report, released on June 22, 2011, was commissioned by PwC (formerly called PricewaterhouseCoopers).

Are CFHTs different from the wider FHT sector?  Is the difference more than just the governance model?  Now you can find out. The Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC) and the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) invite FHTs who have physicians on the blended salary model to participate in a research project to determine the complexity of care and the individual characteristics of your patients and how it compares to other primary healthcare models across Ontario.

Four AFHTO members are profiled in two Success Studies found in Quality Monitor 2011 Report on Ontario's Health System, released today: