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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1981-06-24, Page 1na 1 3Se WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1961 IVa':' label By Henry Seas The Wingham and District Hospital board was enlarged by one member and the qualifications for nominating members to the board adjusted slightly during the annual meeting of the hospital association last week. The village of Lucknow and the townships of West Wawanosh, Kinloss and Ashfield, which last year were represented by one member on the board,this year have been given two .representatives, " Otherwisethe composition of the board remains the same. Frank MacKenzie, the incumbent, will continue to represent Lucknow`and: Kinloss, while Annie Gaunt will sit on the board for West :Wawanosh. and Ashfield. This brings the total number of members on the board to 18, of whom 12 are elected and six appointed. Another change included in the bylaw amendment increases the terms for elected members to two years from one, with six of the 12 elected seats coming open each year. Previously only the Wingham. representa- tives served for two year terms, with two of the four seats corning up for election each year. The other change requires that nomina- tions f rom the floor for, a board member can come , only from .persons residing in the area the nominee would represent. This amends the previous policy, which allowed anyone at the meeting to nominate from the floor, whether or not he or she lived in that municipality.. Members of the Turnberry Township council had objected it was unfair that someone from outside the municipality could nominate someone to run against the council's nominee, thus goingagainst the will of the township. Notice of motion for both bylaw amend- ments had been given at last year'sannual meeting, and. about 60 peopleattended the meeting last .:Thursday to take ;part in the discussion and voting. All the changes were approved . easily, with little opposition. Initially the proposalfor realignment of the hospital board, representation called for reducing the number of elected members to seven and regrouping the municipalities so that each member would represent about 14 per cent of the people using the hospi al. It quickly became °clear there was little support for this proposal, and Dr. J. C. McKim, a ` medical .staff representative on the board, proposed adding a member for Ashfield and West Wawanosh to even things Turn to, page. 4.. ink hospital's projecte� By Henry Hess Wingham and District Hospital ended its 0011 4, ear showing . a deficit of nearly $82,000.; However this is not cause for alarm, sisice the liability is linked to pending wage settlements with two . groups of hospital workers,4nd almost certainly will be picked up by the health ministry, hospital board Members weretold' last week. Gordon Baxter, board treasurer, explain- • ed the' deficit •of $81,664 shown for the financial year 1980-81 is a "Guesstimate" of what the hospital" will have to pay service and nursing employees retroactively once. union wage settlements are reached. " While the Wingham hospital is non-union, traditionally its wages have followed the settlements obtained by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPS) and the Ontario , Nurses' Association (ONA). COPE recently agreed to a " two year contract covering October 1980 to September 1982, but ONA - has not yet settled. "It appears we're in the red. Maybe we aren't," Baxter told the board, but he noted "we had to show something," 'to reflect the liability in wages. • Norman Hayes,. hospital administrator, added that the ministry probably will pick up the deficit through supplementary, funding, particularly since the settlement reached between CUPS and .the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA)• skeins pretty much in 16. Igolis� like a,,reasonable figure and he is the d'ia'ry *find it 100 per ti urt+lww riW ttetf'but`tiedeficit is a "book aid foesn't represent' money the pi►ii Chas spent, since the wage increases e not been paid yet. -� 4 tr'lier this year the hospital board ed an interim ._.. ay increase of nine per service and nursin . employees, but e g this took effect April 14 anddoesn't cover the pend between then and the expiration of the previous contract last October, Baxter explained." This particular the first year the hospital has faced this particular dilemma at the end of a year, y1; he said, adding that most hospitals in the province are in similar straits. Without the wage liability the hospital would have . shown a small surplus for 1980=81, he reported. • . In other discussion\ on the year-end report, Bill Newton, board member for Howick, noted the patient load for the year showed a slight decrease, which he`said was not what he .had anticipated given" the "great turmoil" over bed closings. Hayes said what the bed loss has done is increase the occupancy rate and make the hospital over crowded. While the *occupancy rate, at something over 80 per cent, is in line with provincial guidelines, "80 per cent occupancy in •a hospital with 61 beds is vastly different than 80 per cent occupancy in a hospital with 700 beds," he pointed out. He said he has been trying to convince the health ministry that occupancy rates - should be looked at in relation to the size of the institution, but so far without success. When a small hospital is running at a high rate of occupancy, it leaves little cushion in case of an emergency such as a severe highway accident, he noted later. Hayes also told the board that while there were fewer admissions and discharges last year, "The people we saw were sicker and stayed longer." Day surgery and inpatient , services increased as well. Expense Policies Reviewed The board spent considerable time at the meeting discussing aspects of its policies on payment of mileage costs and other expen- ses, but in the end little was resolved. The board did agree that chairmen of the various medical staff committees or their designates should be reimbursed for mile- age costs when acting on behalf of the hospital. Previously only the chief of staff was paid expenses phis loss of income when acting for the hospital, since he is appointed by the board. The matter was raised by Dr'. J. C. McKim, a medical staff representative on the board, who reported he had been refused mileage costs for travelling to London to arrange an educational program for the • • It was. an opportunity to take. oat' hidden hostilities. wien Iocal'bua1 essaeea teak terns ie the (bulldog machine at the Kin Summsi%st F14410et0bt. James Mettgsrery, of Msatsaateey Motors took splash In the tub .and. a<ve out free T-sii to spre a who► erg eficit to wage increases medical staff and nurses. Dr. Al Williams, chairman of the finance committee, objected to paying the driving expenses, saying that such expenses for continuing education are deductible and can be claimed by the doctors on their income taxes. When Drs. McKim and Don Jolly said that is not so, Dr. Williams suggested a fee could be charged to persons attending the educa- tional programs to recover expenses. •However it was objected that this would discourage people' attending. "Raye Elmslie raised the matter of payment of expenses for hospital administration and board members attending conventions, sug- gesting this should be cleared with the board before the fact. • She asked who had approved the recelt trip to Winnipeg for the Canadian Hospital Association convention by Board Chairman Turn to page 4+ Nursing home bed shortage is critical By Henry seas There is a crying need for more nursing home beds in this area, but the chances of getting them in the near future are practically non-existent, members of the. Wingham and District, Hospital board were told last week. Dr. J. C. McKim, reporting for the medical staff, told the board there are 12 patients. in the chronic care unit at the hospital who should be in' nursing homes. But there are no nursing home beds available to take them. "Those 12 are just • waiting. In the meantime, it is costing the people of Ontario a lot more to keep theta in the hospital than it would in a nursing home: "Those 12 are just waiting for a bed to come free," Dr. McKim told the board. They already have their 0 applications in and` awaiting ._ . processing. But s e nursing homes in this area are filled to capacity andj1 the provincial health ministry isnot pernntting them to expand, it is a 'natter of waiting for someone to die, he said. He was supported by Dr. Jolly, also a member of the' board, who predicted the matter will become a "political football". as an aging population . results in more and more chronic patients filling -hospital- beds. In the end, sick people may not be able to get into hospital, he warned; there will not be enough beds free. Asked what the board could do about the problem, Dr. McKim said the only thing it could do would be to send a letter to the ministry recommending more nursing home beds. However,- he admitted the letter probably would have no effect. Norman Hayes, hospital administrator, reported that a long-term study on the Huron -Perth area recently completed for the ministry, recommended no additional nurs- ing home beds except for Stratford in the near future. forecast a nee In they long .run the studyd for. 20 additional beds in the no and south ends of the county which could be interpret- ed ed as 20 in the north and another 20 in the south, or 20 split between both, he added. He said the ministry has guidelines for the .._... number of nursing home beds required and the survey showed, they are being met, '.so there is not Much hope for improvement unless it changes the guidelines. Because things are so tight, a person waiting to get into a nursing hone must be Tarn to page 12+