reports from council
Deputy Minister Addresses Council
Dr. Bob Bell, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of
Health and Long-Term Care, spoke to Council on a
variety of issues, including the government’s vision to
strengthen primary care in Ontario.
Dr. Bell, an orthopedic surgeon, told Council that
the government’s discussion document – Patients
First: A Proposal to Strengthen Patient-Centred
Health Care in Ontario – aims to ensure Ontarians
receive seamless, consistent, high quality care, regardless of where they live, or how much they earn.
Dr. Bell reported on the government proposal to
expand the role of the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) in order to reduce gaps and eliminate fragmentation. In their expanded role, LHINs
would be responsible for working with providers
across the care continuum to improve access to highquality and consistent care, and to make the system
Dr. Bob Bell
easier to navigate. The LHIN sub-regions would take
the lead in integrating primary care with home and
community care.
Council welcomes new public member
The College welcomes Peggy Taillon, a new public member of Council.
Ms. Taillon is the President of the Bruyère Foundation. Ms. Taillon has also led the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD), influencing public policy and the changing landscape for the third sector in Canada over the last several years. Prior to the CCSD,
Ms. Taillon served as senior vice-president at The Ottawa Hospital, and previously led
Ontario’s Mental Health Implementation Task Force, a sweeping reform process. She also
served as an Advisor to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and to the Premier on
the implementation of Ontario’s Regional Health Authorities, Local Health Integration
Networks (LHINs), along with a number of other major health reform processes.
In 2008, Ms. Taillon founded the HERA Mission of Canada, a Foundation that supports
women leading development projects that empower widows and children in Western
Kenya.
Ms. Taillon lives in Ottawa.
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Dialogue Issue 1, 2016
photos: D.W. Dorken
peggy taillon