The province has announced some information about the merger of health units, including the Huron and Perth health units amalgamating with Grey-Bruce.
Dr. Miriam Klassen, the medical officer of health for Perth County, said there will be a total of ten regional health units -- Toronto being the largest one, six with a population of more than one million people, and three, including the Huron-Perth-Grey-Bruce unit, with a population under 1 million.
She explained the Huron-Perth-Grey-Bruce unit will be a fairly large unit geographically, and that will mean increased complexity to manage.
"There will be some opportunities too of enhanced capacity with a larger regional health entity," said Klassen. "There's again the opportunity to have more skill sets and backup incapacity."
A new Huron-Perth-Grey-Bruce health unit gets a break as far as cost-sharing with the province.
"In terms of the changes to the cost-sharing between the province and the municipality, we would switch to a 70-30 split and stay there, rather than move up to a 70-40, so the municipalities will have an opportunity then, to plan for that change," said Klassen.
While Toronto will eventually go to a 50-50 split with the province, and the other larger units will eventually go to 70-40.