We are learning more details about the future of healthcare in our area.

On April 11th, the Ontario government announced plans to establish ten regional public health entities and ten new regional boards of health with one common governance model by 2020-2021.

As a follow-up, officials say that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has proposed that the Perth, Huron and Grey-Bruce health units be merged to create a new regional health entity which would come into effect on April 1st 2020 and be governed by an autonomous board of health.

Officials say that as a regional health entity with a population under one million, the cost-sharing arrangement with the municipalities for the new entity would shift to 70 per cent provincial/30 per cent municipal, effective April 1st this year, and stay at that level.

It’s expected that there will be further consultations done about the merger before it officially takes place.

Perth County’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Miriam Klassen, says the Huron and Perth Health Units have been directed to continue with their amalgamation process, in keeping with current provincial legislation.