HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1997-02-05, Page 5(ioderich Mayor concerned with decislioIl
Wants Goderich restored to 'anchor hospital'
Dar Editor: The following
letter has been forwarded to
Janet Hook aria Fraser Bell
of the Huron Perth District
Health Council.
Dear Ms Hook and Mr.
Hell:
First, t would like to con-
gratulate the Task Force .tor
their efforts in bunging all
eight hospitals together in an
attempt to resolve a very con-
troversial issue. To keep all
sight hospitals open and have
a single governance and sin-
gle administration seems to
address the concerns and
mettle health care needs in
Huron and Perth Counties for
now and the .foreseeable
future. However, 1 do have
some major concerns which
are addressed •in the follow-
ing:
• Reducing the number of
LC.Uebeds from 4 to 2 does
slot meet the current and
future needs of the -area
served by the Goderieh
-Alexandra Marine .arid
Osamu] i4ospltal.
• As you are aware the
report submitted by the Town
of Goderich addressed the
criteria of -the District -Health
Council. Within that report
reference was made to -the
large number.of industries,
particularly the Salt Mineand
Champion, the tourist traffic,
the access. and the require-
ment tor qualified specialists
in the area, to. name a .few.
This reduction certainly
affects the quality of care in
all of these areas.
• The reduction in the num-
ber of medical beds from 20
to 15 is unacceptable based
on the requirements of the
Town of Goderich and sur
rounding area in relation to
the medical staff's require-
ments for proper health care.
• I believe that the other
hospitals, although affected,
can function under the pro-
posed conditions: I .do
believe, however, the Town
of Goderich is unique and
although the Matus previous-
ly indicating a secondary
hospital for this municipality
is not acceptable for -whatev-
er reasons, 1 do believe that
the Goderich Hospital must
be an anchor• ospital forthis
health facility•to-rneet the
current and future'require-
ments for health care purpos-
es in the area served by the
Goderich Hospital. At the
very least it is imperative that
the Town of Goderich be
SIC 'sells ,out" and Huron 1
Dear Editor:
This letter has been sent to
Fraser Bel!, Chairman of the -
Huron -Perth District Health
Council.
Dear Mr. Bell:
1 would like to express the
anger I telt upon reading the
latest restructuring plan of
the DHC's task force. The
_task force SOLD OUT. and
:Huron County, in particular
Alexandra Marine and
General Hospital, loses again.
How did . AM & GH go
from being a secondary hos-
pital in the three options
released November 22, 1996
to becoming a community
hospital with 19 fewer beds''
1:understand that the initial-
options.
nitial options. were by no means
final recommendations.
However, in the release of
,just U� ,wtri cgs •
that date. the task force stated
in their so called "Anchor
Assumptions" and "Key
Themes" from consultation
with the Program Planning
task force. that Huron and
Perth counties will eseh have
a secondary hospital with a
minimum of 60 to 80 acute
care beds. Apparently the
public should not put too
much trust in anything the
DHC and their task force has
to say.
The original options
seemed well researched and
fairly represented both coun-
ties. This so-called fourth
option is nothing more than a
knee-jerk response to the
emotional outcries of the
communities that stood to
lose the most. Somewhere
along the line common sense
should prevail. Sev erel ques-
tions come to mind:
1. -How fiscally .responsible
is it to keep 14 -bed hospitals
open? Buildings still have to
bemaintained and staffed.
2. 'Why is it that Perth
County. with 69.000 people
gets a total of 247 beds and
Huron County with a popula-
tion of 59,00() suffers a loss
of 124 beds, being left with a
total of 159 beds? 1 am not a
math whiz but even I know
this ratio -does not make
sense.
3. Does not the fourth
option serve to. in fact,
ERODE the level of care
which is presently provided
in Goderich and in Huron
County?
4. Why would specialists
DEC addresses .cone
Dear Editor:
I am writing on behalf of
the Huron Penh Hospital and
Related. Health Services
,Study Task -Force to address
some of the concerns and
questions we have received
regarding the Task Force's
preferred option for hospital
-restructuring.
The preferred option is a
first step to creating a hospi-
. tal system in Huron Perth
that will be responsive to
future challenges. in addition.
the. preferr=ed option address-
es the priorities identified
through the Task Force con-
sultation process. Issues such
as•keeping physicians within
communities, keeping hospi-
tals open, providing immedi-
ate access to emergency ser-
vices and consolidating
administration and gover-
nance were heard and
addressed by the Task Force.-
In
orce.In general we have received
support for the preferred
option. However some con-
cerns have been raised
regarding the bed distribu-
tion, the.creation of a single
board andthe time frame that
the Task Force has recom-
mended for the consolidation
of administration.
With respect to the specific
bed numbers identified by the
Task Force, it is important to
note that these numbers are
not set in stony. The essence
of the hospitals' proposal has
not been changed by the 'Task
Force. The distribution of
programs and services
remains the same as that of
the hospitals' proposal. The
bed numbers identified by the
Task Force were determined
'based on the programs and
services that are to be provide
ed in each community, the
current use of_services, popu-
lation characteristics of the
communities, and the exist
ing.strengths of the,eight hos-
pitals.
However, once a system
has been created, system,-
wide,
ystem-wide.. clinical programming
will take place with input
from. medical staff in both
Huron and Perth counties. If
there is. a clinical reason why
the bed numbers need to
shift. this will happen
through that process.
The Task Force is recom-
mending that a single senior
Grxllather' ¶
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f
restored to what 1 refer to
above as an anchor hospital
with -4 I.C.U. units and -20
mcdieatt eds.
Finally, it is further to my
understanding that when this
decision was made -with
regard to the eight hospitals,
it-was•made in the absence ot
the Hospital Task Force rep-
resentative trom the 'Town ot
Goderich. I respectfully
atgnest Monitore that consid-
eeatioirbe. given to the above
request and that input be
acquired to verify my con-
cern from the medical staff
and the Board of the
Goderich Alexandra Marine
and General Hospital
Yarns truly,
D.J. (Deb) Shewfelt
Mayor. Town of Godench
a
r r
1•
arm
locate in Huron County. is
Internal Medicine. Surgery.
knowing that the hospitals
cannot provide the facilities
which their particular exper-
tise provides''
5. Finally. why consider
this option when it is admit-
tedly only saving approxi-
mately 13% and the savings
target set by the task force
was 20%''
The whole thing is a traves-
ty and the DHC would be
wise not to simply rubber
stamp this option. What is
lost shall never be regained.
Susan Drennan, Reg. N.
Emergency Department.
Alexandra Marine and
General Hoapital
of opti
--Management team be in place
-by September 1997 -to
.address the clinical and oper-
ational issues of a single hos-
pital.system.'The-Task Force
recognizes that a single inter-
im hospital governance .com-
mittee with delegated -respon-
sibility needs to be struck to
proceed with the hiring of the
Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) for the.system. It will
be important to/stovetop a
governance structure that can
manage hospital services in
Huron•Perth. as a true system,
while recognizing the needs
of all conunttnities: There are
many ways that.this can be
.achieved. As proposed by the
hospitals, the Task Force will
work collaboratively with the
current hospital boards to
ti
identify the appropriate gov-
• ernance structure for the
Huron -Perth hospital system.
As the Ministry of Health
will be withdrawing signifi-
cant funding from hospitals
over the next two years, it is
essential that the Huron Perth
hospital system be in a posi-
tion to address this funding
challenge. -Cost savings can
he found in three ways-- by
reducing administration and
support service costs, [edhic-
ing dollars spent on direct
patient care orreducing costs
of operating buildings. In
recognition of each commu-
nity's commitment to train-
.tain local access to services, •
cost savings from , restructur-
ing ran only come through
CONTINUED on page 9
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