Fort Frances office of the Northwestern Health Unit/File photo
There’s news the Northwestern Health Unit will be combined with the Thunder Bay Health Unit to form a health unit covering the entire northwest region.
The changes are being put forward by the provincial government as a way of reducing bureaucracy and overlapping administration responsibilities.
Medical Officer of Health for the Northwestern Health Unit Dr. Kit Young-Hoon doesn’t think a larger health unit will actually save the government money.
She says her agency is already very lean with how their money is spent.
“Our organization is a very lean organization. We don’t have a director level within our organization. Many of the managers have more than what considered best practices with respect to the number of staff that reports to them,” says Young-Hoon.
Young-Hoon also sees a potential of increased travel costs because of having to cover a greater geographical area.
“When you think about our regional board that covers such a large geographic area, even though you might try new things like video conferencing and teleconferencing, they can still have an impact on travel costs.”
She says there’s also concerns of losing the local focus and presence that now exists.
She admits the proposal is still in its very early stages so how it will impact on staffing levels remains unknown.
