The Credit Valley Family Health Team (CV FHT) is a multi-disciplinary primary care team located within Mississauga, Ontario. It was established in 2006 as part of wave 3 of the MOHLTC FHT expansions. It is located within the North West Mississauga (NWM) Sub-Region of the Mississauga Halton LHIN. The NWM Sub-Region is both diverse, with more than 50% of its citizens identifying as visible minority and populous, with more than 300,000 residents.
The CV FHT is the primary care team for greater than 11,600 patients and growing. Roughly 70% of patients who attend the CV FHT live outside of the NWM Sub-Region. The CV FHT’s is comprised of three distinct offices with IHPs and physician present in all three locations. Two of the offices (Site A) are on the first floor of the 2300 Eglinton Ave West Medical Building on the Trillium Health Partners Credit Valley Hospital (THP-CVH) hospital ground. The third office (Site B) is located on the third floor of the 2000 Credit Valley Road Medical Building adjacent to the northeast corner of the THP-CVH hospital grounds. Site A hosts the Family Medicine Teaching Unit (FMTU), which is a Family Medicine Residency training site for the University of Toronto in collaboration with Trillium Health Partners-Credit Valley Hospital. Site B hosts a francophone program, providing primary care services for roughly 2,500 francophone patients.
The CV FHT clinical cohort comprised of 10 Staff Physicians, 18 Family Medicine Resident Physicians, 4 Registered Nurses, 1 Nurse Practitioner, 2 Social Workers, 1 Registered Pharmacist, 1 Registered Dietician and a Diabetes Education Program comprised to 2 CDE-certified Diabetes Nurse Educators and 2 CDE-certified Diabetes Dieticians. There is currently an unfilled francophone NP position. The administrative cohort is comprised of an Executive Director, an Office Manager, a Financial Controller, a Billing Clerk, a Referrals Clerk and 7 Unit Assistants. The base budget for the CV FHT is a little over $1.7 million per annum.
The CV FHT was recently awared funds to support an Interprofessional Care Team (IPCT) expansion into the NWM Sub-Region. This expansion provides for additional funds of approximately $1.3 million and includes the following new positions: 2 NPs, 2 RNs, 1 RD, 0.2 FTE RPh, 2 SWs, 0.5 FTE Occupational Therapist, 0.5 FTE Physiotherapist, 1 manager and 2 Unit Assistants. This IPCT expansion is intended to be community-facing only with services to be available to the greater than 300 physicians in the NWM Sub-Region who do not currently have access to an IPCT. This expansion will have three programs of focused work in Care of Frail Seniors, Mental Health and Addictions (Depression, Anxiety, Alcohol Misuse), and Lung Health (COPD/Asthma).
The CV FHT active academically through its affiliation with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and is a training site for Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. There are 18 Family Medicine Residents engaged in a longitudinal training program whereby they complete hospital based rotations while also maintaining a family medicine practice (3 half clinical days per week in the FMTU). Additionally Medical Students rotate through the FHT connected with Staff Physicians for a 5 week rotation. The CV FHT regularly hosts pharmacy trainees either in their final clinical rotations or graduated pharmacists completing PharmD training. The CV FHT also regularly hosted dietician students for short term placements.
The CV FHT is a dynamic clinical environment committed to continuous learning and excellence within primary care. It has a longstanding history of excelling in quality improvement having been invited to present at numerous provincial and national conferences. Its COPD program was awarded an AFHTO Bright Lights Award for its efforts in reducing COPD ER visits by 80%. The Diabetes Program provides care to CV FHT-enrolled and Community-enrolled patients. The CV FHT also boasts a robust smoking cessation program and a hospital re-admission program which proactively identifies patient’s being discharged from hospital and facilitates their transition back into the community.
