Re:  Healthcare alliance approves Vision concepts, news, June 10

The Ontario Physiotherapy Association (OPA) was very concerned to hear that the Huron Perth Health Alliance (HPHA) is considering the elimination of out-patient physiotherapy at the Stratford General Hospital (SGH).  This decision will undoubtedly impact the citizens of Stratford, particularly vulnerable populations such as those without the means to pay for private care, and those with chronic health conditions.

The HPHA’s Vision 2013 commits to ensuring that all services offered through the HPHA will “remain available within (the) system,” but there is little in the way of alternatives to this important service.

There are only 93 designated physiotherapy clinics (DPCs) in Ontario, clinics eligible to bill OHIP for physiotherapy. Only three of these DPCs are located within the South West LHIN, and none within a reasonable distance from Stratford.  Even these services are not fully covered, the patient is responsible for additional fees for non-OHIP covered services, such as assessment and re-assessment in most DPCs. Regardless, DPC access is restricted to those 19 and younger, 65 and older, and those on certain provincial social assistance programs, or those who have stayed overnight in a hospital.

The last two years have seen the access Ontarians have to publicly-funded physiotherapy increasingly compromised due to hospital in and out-patient closures, downsizings, and privatizations.

In the South West LHIN alone, out-patient physiotherapy clinics were closed in Kincardine, Walkerton, Chesley, and Durham. In addition, the eligibility criteria patients have to meet to access home care has also been tightened.  

The result of the elimination of out-patient physiotherapy at the SGH will be that many patients in Stratford will simply have to go without the physiotherapy services they need.  

We believe that the government of Ontario, South West LHIN, and HPHA should be moving to ensure that physiotherapy services are available and accessible to the citizens of Stratford.  Closing out-patient physiotherapy at the SGH will have the opposite result.

Dorianne Sauvé
CEO  
Ontario Physiotherapy Association