Thanks to collaborative work conducted with the Champlain and South East LHINs and health service providers, significant progress regarding access to French-language health services has been achieved in 2016-2017, particularly in terms of designation. Designation under the French-language Services Act remains the best planning mechanism for the Réseau to build and maintain a permanent and active offer of high-quality French-language health services. That is why we are delighted to support health providers engaged in the designation process, including through the development of software tools that facilitate the preparation and submission of designation plans.
In 2016-2017, 23 designation plans and conformity assessments were submitted by identified and designated organizations in the region. These plans illustrate the progress achieved by providers with respect to French-language services on the entire continuum of care, both in communities that have a significant Francophone population and in those where this population is sparse.
This high volume of plans submitted – a first in the region – is the fruit of collaborative leadership exercised by all parties: the Réseau facilitated the process by playing a consulting role on active offer to suppliers, the LHINs have ensured the accountability of local players with respect to French-language services, and service providers worked on improving French-language services and ensuring their sustainability out of concern for quality of care and equity.
In addition, access to French-language mental health services is an issue that particularly caught our attention in 2016-2017. In the Champlain region, the Réseau conducted a major consultation among Francophone youths aged 16 to 25. The goal of this initiative was to understand the needs of this population in terms of mental health and addiction services, in particular during the transition between child and adult services. The data collected helped to better identify the obstacles this clientele faces when receiving French-language mental health services. Finally, this measure is a first step towards identifying solutions so that Francophone clients can more easily access French-language resources and services that already exist within the system.
Nationally, our organization is continuing its mandate as a mental health resource-network for other Société Santé en français member networks. Under the collaborative leadership of the Partenariat communauté en santé, the Réseau has played a consultant role to establish a French-language mental health services optimization strategy for Francophones in the Yukon. This initiative, which has mobilized health service providers and local partners, has already enabled official discussions with the territorial government. A French-language telephone help line will also be deployed in the region.