The SHIH, in partnership with Perley Health and the Centretown Community Health Centre, is seeking to establish nurse practitioners to serve central Ottawa seniors. You can help. Simply copy or adapt the letter template below and email it to Ontario’s Minister of Health at sylvia.jones@ontario.ca . Please copy Jane Philpott, head of the Primary Care Action Team Jane.Philpott@ontario.ca the SHIH when you do, at seniorshealthinnovationshub@gmail.com .

Subject line: Support of Seniors Health Innovations Hub; Ottawa. 

Attn. Sylvia Jones

Deputy Premier of Ontario and Minister of Health

Dear Minister Jones,

I am writing in support of the Seniors Health Innovations Hub’s (SHIH)) 2023 submission responding to the June 2023 Ontario Health Expression of Interest. 

SHIH made its submission in partnership with Perley Health and the Centretown Community Health Centre. It seeks funding for a medical clinic consisting of two full-time nurse practitioners offering comprehensive primary care to unattached seniors living in central Ottawa.

Currently, in Ontario, many older doctors are retiring, leaving behind patients they have looked after for years. In other words, this departure of older physicians affects a disproportionately large number of seniors who have relied on the same doctors for decades. Their numbers tell the story. At the time of the public release of the expression of interest, there were approximately 7700 seniors who needed primary care in central Ottawa. That number remains on an upward trajectory, which underlines the growing urgency for action. 

Seniors use more primary care than younger people, increasingly so as they become older seniors. When they can’t have access to reliable, familiar and responsive primary care providers they are forced to go to clinics or hospital emergencies. The result: health fails, and costs skyrocket. As the over-80 age group becomes one of the fastest-growing population groups in the province, they need to feel that Ontario Health and the Ontario Medical Association are providing for their needs. Here is a way of making that happen.

This Seniors Health Innovations Hub proposal offers a practical and highly cost-effective solution, using nurse practitioners. With training, Registered Nurses can become Nurse Practitioners in two years. While they are paid less than physicians, Nurse Practitioners are licensed to provide the full range of primary care. Setting up this kind of clinic to address today’s issues enjoys strong support from experts and local health agencies.  

We believe this response, originating as it does from within an affected community, sends a strong message indicating how an active community working with a supportive government can accomplish great things together. SHIH’s initiative stands out as an excellent example of a community-based response addressing the need for increased senior access to primary care. 

Given that your office, in conjunction with the Primary Care Action Team lead by Dr. Jane Philpott, will be making further funding decisions in this area soon, I want to express my strong support for SHIH’s initiative and hope it will be a successful candidate in your process.

Thank you,