PE Family Health Team wins Spotlight Award

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The Prince Edward Family Health Team has been recognized provincially with a Spotlight Award on by the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario for the team’s work in expanding access to team-based primary care.

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For more than a year, the Prince Edward Family Health Team (PEFHT) has worked to expand access to team based primary care in the community, working in alignment with two of the team’s strategic priorities, access to care for all residents and meeting the needs of the community.

“We are honoured to receive this recognition. Community need for access to primary care has never been greater in our community. Primary care has been a part of our health care system that has been underfunded and inadequately resourced for quite some time. Our average age in the County is much higher than the provincial average and as our community ages and demographics change, the dependency on our local health care system increases,” said Dr. Sarah Le Blanc, board president.

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“The latest announcement of the appointment of Dr. Jane Philpott as the chair of the Provincial Primary Care Action Team is encouraging news and we’re hopeful that we will finally see some of the change we’ve needed for years for patients and providers,” said.

Barinder Gill, PEFHT executive director, said: “There is an inequity in our local health care system where some residents have access to public primary health care services and some do not. The reality is, that we should all have access to the primary care we need and when we need it. PEFHT recognizes the importance of access to primary care and the role it plays in ensuring that residents have the best possible health throughout their lives. I am proud of the creative and innovative work that the team has done with the limited resourcing we have over the past year, but further resourcing is required to make the biggest impact.”

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In February, the team launched the Community Clinic for Unattached Patients, first designed to provide acute episodic care for a specified list of symptoms to and then transitioned to provide problem-specific primary care as opposed to a short list of symptoms. Patients who have accessed care through the Community Clinic are also able to receive care through one of the family health team’s specialized clinical programs such as Diabetes Education and Lung Health.

These clinics have been nothing short of a team effort, being staffed by nurse practitioners, a family physician, nursing and administrative support and other allied health professionals. The success of PEFHT’s unattached programming that includes care for unattached newborns, residents discharged from hospital without a primary care provider and preventative care are a prime example of all that can be accomplished by working together in service to the community.

Community clinic data includes:

430+ patients cared for

600+ unique patient interactions including follow ups

128+ patients referred to internal specialized PEFHT programs

43+ external specialist referrals

277+ lab requisitions

87+ diagnostic requisitions

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