2008 Framework for Action - Diverse Ontario - Ontario.ca

Improving Accessibility
in French Language
Health Services
For Francophones in Ontario, changes in
the health care system and in the Ministry
of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC)
have initiated a new approach to equity,
accessibility and sustainability of French
language health services.
“We are working to ensure that the principles
of the French Language Services Act are
part of local planning and monitoring and
that the needs and concerns of Francophones
are heard,” says Gilles Huot, Provincial
Coordinator in the French Language Health
Services (FLHS) Offce.
Service planning, coordination and
resource allocation in health and long-term
care are moving closer to the people who
deliver care and the people who receive it
through the establishment of Local Health
Integration Networks (LHINs).
Huot’s team has developed a strategy to
improve data collection and analysis of
service access and accessibility for Franco-
Ontarians. Access refers to whether there is
a facility offering services within reasonable
reach of a designated population (reflecting
both supply and demand). Accessibility
refers to the extent to which a population
in need can use the services (barriers could
include economic, cultural, geographic and
other issues). The FLHS team won a 2007
Award of Excellence for Services in French
for development of its strategy.
The work of the FLHS Office is part of
an overall thrust to improve services for
Franco-Ontarians and involve Francophone
communities in the process. A new French
Language Health Services Advisory
Council was appointed last November
to provide advice on health and service
delivery issues.
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