InfoClin Signs Contract with Hamilton Family Health Team

12th February 2007-
Hamilton Family Health Team

Family Health Teams are a key piece of the Ontario provincial government's plan to build a health care system that promotes good health, reduces wait times and improves access to care.  In Family Health Teams, family doctors work with other health care professionals such as nurse practitioners, nurses, mental health counsellors, dietitians and pharmacists to see more patients and to keep them healthy.

Since April, 2005, the Ontario government has approved 150 Family Health Teams across the province. The Hamilton Family Health Team is the largest, serving approximately 250,000 people and was built on the "platform of the H-W HSO Mental Health and Nutrition Programme.

The Hamilton Family Health Team includes:

The Hamilton Family Health Team serves approximately 250,000 people.  It is the largest of the 150 approved Family Health Teams in Ontario.  The services provided by the Hamilton Family Health Team are free of charge to patients. 

 How can the Hamilton Family Health Team help patients get healthy and stay healthy?

•  by sharing accurate, up-to-date information about the best ways to prevent disease and promote health 

• by looking at risk factors and offering appropriate screening and follow-up
•  by detecting and addressing health (including mental health) problems earlier, when care is more effective and less costly
•  by increasing the range of health conditions that can be assessed and treated in the family doctors office, the place where most patients first seek care
•  by offering support and strategies to better manage chronic illnesses like diabetes, depression and asthma
•  by working with patients and their families to "navigate the health care system so that care is better co-ordinated  

How can this improve the health care system?

• by helping doctors and other members of the team use their time more effectively, so practices can provide high-quality care to more patients
•  by increasing access to care through extended hours and Telephone Health Advisory Services to improve continuity of care and help ease the strain on emergency services
•  by providing the supports family doctors need in order to be able to accept new patients, so more people will have a family doctor
•  by building partnerships between different parts of the health care system, for example, between family doctors and community organizations such as hospitals and CCACs, so services are better co-ordinated across the system
•  by making the system more flexible, so each community can tailor services to meet their specific needs
•  by using health care dollars as efficiently as possible

The Hamilton Family Health Team currently includes four programs: Mental Health, Nutrition, Nursing and Pharmacy.  A number of other programs are in the planning stages. 

In each program, health care professionals with special training, skills and experience work with family doctors to provide care to patients and their families.    

For example, registered dietitians are experts in the area of diet and nutrition.  Working with the family doctor, they can play an important role in preventing, assessing and treating conditions where diet is a factor such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.   

Pharmacists are experts in the area of prescription and non-prescription drugs.  In collaboration with the family doctor, they can help patients to better monitor and prevent side effects and adverse drug reactions and interactions.

The Hamilton Family Health Team also has several pilot projects underway.  These include a child & youth mental health pilot, a substance abuse/addictions pilot and a peer support pilot.