Internal memo reveals ‘LHSC of tomorrow’ includes dedicated mental health emergency room

London Health Sciences Center (LHSC) has unveiled its master plan to rethink the way the region’s largest hospital network administers care.

An email outlining a number of future changes for LHSC was sent to staff on Wednesday. It comes at a time when the hospital network is dealing with record occupancy rates due to RSV, influenza and COVID-19, which forced the cancellation of elective surgeries at the children’s hospital on Monday. .

The plan to create the “LHSC of tomorrow” includes three guiding principles for operations. The first is to bring together complementary care, then to strengthen partnerships with other hospitals and care providers, and then to integrate research and teaching into each program.

« It’s about bundling programs that make sense together, » Jackie Schleifer Taylor, president and CEO of LHSC said in the email.

“It’s about advancing accessibility, inclusion, health equity and innovation. It is about organizing expertise in care, teaching and research to advance the experience of patients and staff.

The services will be grouped into three new units:

• Specialized acute care for adults in a large state-of-the-art emergency department.
• An emergency service dedicated to mental health and addictions.
• A pediatric and obstetric care centre.

The email to staff also said the focus will be on exploring new ways to collaborate with the community, regional partners and the health system as a whole, according to the memo.

« Not only will we provide the best education for tomorrow’s healthcare providers, but we will better integrate research across the organization, accelerating the translation of research from bench to bedside and expanding patient access. to clinical trials, » Schleifer Taylor wrote to staff. .

She said the planning team is still reviewing facility design and will be asking staff for input, a process she says will continue into early 2023.

CBC News has contacted LHSC for comment, but no one was available at the time of publication. This story will be updated when a spokesperson becomes available.