Health Quality Ontario released a new report Connecting the Dots for Patients, which explores family doctors’ views on coordinating care for their patients with home care, community services, hospitals and specialists in Ontario. The report is based on the 2015 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Doctors and it compares the responses of Ontario’s family doctors with those in other parts of Canada and 10 other countries.
Some key findings of the report are that:
- 29 percent of Ontario family doctors say they or other personnel in their practice, routinely communicate with their patient’s case manager or home-care provider about the patient’s needs and services to be provided. More than twice as many family doctors in Saskatchewan (62 percent) report regularly communicating with home care. More family doctors in seven other countries report regular communications with home care than in Ontario
- 36 percent of Ontario family doctors say it’s easy, or very easy, to coordinate their patients’ care with social services or other community providers when needed
- 71 percent of Ontario family doctors say they always, or often receive notification when their patient is discharged from hospital
- Ontario has one of the lowest reported percentages of family doctors communicating with home care and community services when compared to family doctors in other parts of Canada as well as those in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States
The report highlights the work of the Canadian Mental Health Association Durham Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic as a unique primary care model integrated with mental health services.