New Niagara report identifies health system pressures, sets priorities for coordinated action

St. Catharines, ON – The Niagara Ontario Health Team – Équipe Santé Ontario Niagara (NOHT-ÉSON), together with regional partners, has released Planning for the Future: A Data-Informed Health System in Niagara—a comprehensive assessment of population health needs, service utilization, and system capacity designed to support coordinated, evidence-informed planning across the region with the goal of better-targeted care for Niagara residents.

The report establishes a baseline understanding of the region’s population health, service utilization and available resources to guide collective planning and investment over the next five to 10 years. It also highlights the interconnected pressures affecting residents and health care practitioners across the region, including population growth and aging, rising chronic disease and multimorbidity, persistent primary care unattachment, increasing mental health and substance use needs, growing demand for EMS, ongoing hospital capacity pressures (including alternate level of care), workforce challenges across sectors, and the downstream health impacts of housing instability.

“The health system challenges in Niagara don’t sit neatly in one place—pressures in housing, home and community care, and workforce capacity show up everywhere, including emergency departments and hospital beds,” said Tara Galitz, Executive Director for the NOHT-ÉSON. “This report gives us a shared, Niagara-specific baseline so partners can align priorities and move forward together.”

Rather than treating each challenge in isolation, the report emphasizes the need for cross-sector planning and shared solutions—linking primary care, public health, hospitals, community support services, long-term care and hospice, EMS, housing partners, and municipalities.

Planning for the Future outlines priority recommendations for system partners—ranging from expanding community-based chronic disease management and strengthening primary care navigation and attachment, to improving outbreak preparedness, embedding health equity tools and culturally appropriate navigation supports, scaling mobile integrated health approaches, addressing alternate level of care pressures by aligning post-acute capacity, strengthening supportive housing pathways, expanding long-term care and hospice capacity based on forecasting, and advancing data-driven workforce planning.

“Planning starts with evidence. By combining population health trends with service-use patterns, this assessment helps us anticipate Niagara’s needs and will direct collaboration where it can have the greatest impact on equity, access, and sustainability,” said Dr. Darija Vujosevic, Clinical Lead for the NOHT-ÉSON and Vice Chair of the Niagara Practitioners’ Healthcare Alliance.

The assessment was developed through collaborative efforts involving Brock University, Niagara College, Niagara Health, Niagara Health Knowledge Institute, and Niagara Region Public Health, and is intended to support system-level priority setting and ongoing monitoring as needs evolve.

“The Planning for the Future report gives us a clear, evidence‑informed picture of the pressures affecting the health system in Niagara. It highlights where gaps exist today and where demand is growing, providing a strong foundation for planning and preparing for what’s ahead,” said Dr. Azim Kasmani, Medical Officer of Health at Niagara Region Public Health. “This is the first time we’ve collaborated on a report like this, and I’m proud of the collective effort behind it and the role it can play in supporting a healthier future for Niagara residents.”

“Niagara College is pleased to partner in this project, which is a Niagara-wide approach to innovation,” added Sinéad McElhone, Dean of Health Sciences at Niagara College. “Our joint achievement underscores Niagara College’s commitment to academic excellence and our active participation in research that informs the future of healthcare management in Ontario.”