Remarks to Pickering Council 12 July, 2010

Re. Hospital Amalgamation



Mr. Mayor, Councillors and Staff; I will provide you with a very abbreviated review of the work of our Citizens Committee during the past 30 months.

Community concerns growing out of the decision by the RVHS to transfer Mental Health in-patient care from the A/P site to the Centenary site resulted in a motion by the Ajax Council to request that the A/P site be removed from its amalgamation in the RVHS. That motion was also unanimously supported by Durham Regional Council.

As a committee of concerned citizens we met with representatives of the Regional Committee for Health and Social Services to volunteer our time to assist with the work to move the initiative forward.

In a series of meetings we had discussions with the Mayors of Durham Municipalities, the Regional Chair, the Chair of the CELHIN Board, its CEO and Senior Planner.

As part of our work we sent a letter to the Minister of Health and Long Term Care requesting that the A/P site be de-amalgamated. The Minister’s reply was clear; “Because amalgamating or de-amalgamating a hospital corporation would have a profound effect on planning and integration of local services, any recommendation for that kind of change should come from the LHIN itself.”

As a result of that response I am emphasizing for Council that our working Committee was looking at two defined concepts. One, “amalgamation or de-amalgamation”; two, “the CELHIN must make the recommendation to the Minister”.

From a subsequent meeting with the CELHIN representatives two major themes emerged. The first was that the LHIN wanted evidence of a broad base of support in our communities for any recommendation. Second, that amalgamation was a more positive route to pursue for the reasons that are outlined in the “Brief Summary of Efforts…” paper that you received at the previous Council meeting. Let me recall three of the supporting reasons from that paper for you. Amalgamation:

The motion that you are being asked to approve is in support of the two goals; i.e. to demonstrate evidenced based community support, and to request the CELHIN to consider amalgamation of the RVHS and the LHC.

As a Citizen’s Committee we have followed the suggestions that we have received to bring this matter for your attention and support. Our Committee has been told that there was some discussion of the amalgamation concept between the CELHIN and the LHC. The communications officer of the RVHS attended the Ajax Council meeting during our presentation of the amalgamation proposal. Both corporations are aware of our work even though we have not had any formal contact with either corporation. We are taking the procedural steps which have evolved from the experience and the advice which we have encountered along our journey.

We deem that Pickering Council’s adoption of the motion will demonstrate official community support to the CELHIN in requesting them to consider the amalgamation of the two hospital corporations.

Respectfully,

Morgan Dever