Since November 2020, the partner organizations of the Mid-West Toronto region – health care and community service providers, have been maximizing existing partnerships and working to create an Ontario Health Team (OHT) that truly serves our communities. The Mid-West Toronto OHT integrates health and community care services to allow smooth patient navigation for a disease or condition.

 A key condition identified by Ontario Health (OH) is lower limb amputation, a serious complication and a priority prevention focus area for Ontarians. Both vascular disease and diabetes account for a significant number of non-traumatic lower-limb amputations in Ontario, of which up to 85% are estimated to be preventable. Successful implementation of organized lower-limb preservation efforts has shown reduction in amputation rates, saving millions in health care dollars, and most critically, providing appropriate limb-saving care to patients and communities.

Ontario Health has developed the Lower-Limb Preservation Strategy (LLPS) and is working with our Mid-West OHT to implement it in our region.

The strategy aims to:

1.     Reduce preventable, non-traumatic major lower limb amputations across Ontario.

2.     Improve equitable lower-limb care pathways for early identification, cardiovascular risk factors, integrated diabetes management, and wound care.

Mid-West Toronto is set to launch this program in early October 2023. Progress to-date includes building a care model for this patient population by meeting with community service and primary care organizations to define the patient pathway, creating referral forms, hiring an integrated care lead and chiropodist for the pilot, and education/training activities aimed at health care providers, patients and caregivers.

Stay tuned for more information which will enable you to refer patients to this program. For more information or if you have any questions, please reach out to Cynthia.Zhang@uhn.ca and Timothy.Sukhu@uhn.ca.