In the course of a meeting of with the Ministry’s FHT Unit yesterday, we learned the target distribution date for the 2014-15 operating plan packages is in early January. FHTs would have two months to complete their plans for submission in early March. This meeting was the next step in our work toward achieving greater flexibility in FHT budgets, as agreed in the most recent quarterly meeting of AFHTO, AOHC and the Ministry’s FHT Unit. (Click here for meeting report.) The purpose was to review:
- Draft criteria to assess readiness to govern and manage a more flexible budget, developed through AFHTO’s ED Advisory Council, and
- The FHT Unit’s initial ideas to move toward more meaningful accountability reporting.
The FHT Unit will do further work on a number of questions raised in the course of the meeting. Over the next number of weeks AFHTO and AOHC will receive drafts of templates for readiness assessment, quarterly reporting and the annual operating plan submission for review and comment. Thank you to the FHT EDs who worked on drafting the readiness criteria, the ED Advisory Council for their comments and support. Thank you as well to those who participated in yesterday’s meeting:
- MOHLTC: Phil Graham (Manager, FHTs and Related Programs), Fernando Tavares (Acting Program Manager), and Johlen Jordens (Acting Senior Program Consultant)
- FHT EDs: Randy Belair (Sunset Country FHT in Kenora), Michelle Karker (East Wellington FHT), Keri Selkirk (Thames Valley FHT in London)
- Association staff: Angie Heydon and Clarys Tirel (Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario), Leah Stephenson (Association of Ontario Health Centres)