Registed Nurses' Association of Ontario

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Sparking health system transformation

Health care must be responsive and efficient to meet the needs of the people, so RNAO is constantly looking at how Ontario's health system should change.

The association's 2012 report, Enhancing Community Care for Ontarians (ECCO), laid out a bold vision to transform the health system, anchoring it in primary care and revitalizing the home and community care sector. ECCO was updated and re-released in 2014.

In 2015, Health Minister Eric Hoskins announced the next phase of his Patients First initiative, which included a number of the recommendations from ECCO, including the elimination of Community Care Access Centres (CCAC) -- which had become redundant -- and transferring their administrative responsibilities to Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN).

While speaking at RNAO's 2016 annual general meeting, Hoskins called ECCO a "blueprint" for Patients First, and said the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care would continue to work with RNAO to transform the health system.