The Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network says the number of complex patients in the region and across Canada is growing.
The board just approved a one-time expense of $94,000 to help with one patient in Chatham-Kent who requires special care, and now wants to further analyze the growing trend.
LHIN Board Chair Martin Girash says there are two types of complex needs that are becoming more common. "Individuals whose body is not functioning well in a number of its different requirements (and) organ systems," says Girash. "They require more than one intervention or they have a particular chronic disease."
He says something will have to change to address the growing demand. "As the population is aging, we're finding more and more difficulties in cognition therefore in controlling behaviour," says Girash. "Frankly, it's one that needs special attention because decades ago individuals having these kind of extreme problems were generally placed in an institution."
Girash says the focus now will be to address complex patient needs in groups instead of spending money on individual care.
