A joint HKPR and Peterborough Public Health working group met Nov. 16 to begin talks about a possible voluntary merger of the two health units.
HKPR chief medical officer of health, Dr. Natalie Bocking, said voluntary mergers have been put forward by the province of Ontario.
The Ford government is offering funding to units that want to merge as it works on a longer-term approach to public health that clarifies roles and responsibilities, health minister Syliva Jones said in August.
The PCs proposed consolidating units in 2019, but COVID-19 put the plans on hold.
In a speech to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, Jones suggested the government is again looking at the structure of the public health system.
“We are also going to work with the sector to clarify public health roles and responsibilities to reduce overlap and ensure public health care is aligned with provincial priorities as outlined by the chief medical officer of health,” Jones said.
She added, “we will be providing one-time funding and support to public health units that voluntarily merge, to increase their ability to provide care to more people.”
The health minister also said the province will increase base funding for public health units by one per cent a year over the next three years and will reverse cuts to a public health funding formula.
The Progressive Conservative government in 2019 moved from funding 75 per cent of public health costs, with municipalities paying for 25 per cent, to a 70-30 costsharing formula.
Bocking said they had already shared publicly, as well as with employees of both boards, about the ongoing conversation.
She said the next step is a feasibility assessment “to determine the positive and negative impacts of what a voluntary merger could look like as well as any of the risks and liabilities associated with it.”
She said the working group will bring the feasibility study back to the two boards for discussion.
Highlands East deputy mayor Cec Ryall sits on the HKPR board on behalf of the County of Haliburton and updated that council at its Nov. 22 meeting.
He told council the boards had hired a company to do the feasibility study.
“They will assist both boards of health on a go-or-no-go decision on whether we do or do not merge. And if we choose to proceed, will put together a business case of one-time, and ongoing funding, with a draft report mid-January, and a final report with a recommendation at the end of January,” he said.
