First steps

Katherine Stansfield (left) with Councillor Barb Proctor, who served as chair of the final meeting of the Friends of Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital.

QHC making plans for new hospital in Picton

Anew hospital in Picton? For a community that has endured a decade of cuts and struggled mightily to keep its existing hospital intact—the possibility that a new hospital could arise in Picton within the next 10 years seems a fantasy. But the talk that began with the creation of the health care alliance two years ago has evolved into fullfledged planning and development.

Recently Katherine Stansfield, director of patient services at Quinte Health Care unveiled the hospital corporation’s current thinking about the Picton hospital at the final gathering of the Friends of Prince Edward County Memorial.

Borrowing concepts first tabled by the health care alliance, Stansfield described a vision of integrated care in Picton that brings a wide array of primary care services into one centre—a place where the care is “wrapped around the patient.”

To do this the future Picton hospital will feature a mix of acute care (emergency services, ambulatory clinics) and primary care services (diabetes clinics, community care agencies etc.) as well as housing many of the County’s family health care professionals nearby.

Stansfield told the gathering this likely means a new hospital in Picton. She says there is sufficient room on the existing site to accommodate a new facility but that all options remain on the table.

“Imagine a facility where all the services of physio, family health team and diagnostic imaging are all in one place,” said Stansfield. “That is the vision we have for Picton.”

These are ideas that have been kicked around for some time and drew support from the province-appointed superintendent Graham Scott in his brief tenure as the head of the hospital. The difference now is that the idea is being promoted by QHC officials themselves.

When QHC chief Mary Clare Egberts came to the hospital last year she warmed to the concept quickly and soon became an advocate. Even as nursing resources were being cut in Picton, Egberts insisted that she remained committed to the concept first proposed by the health care alliance.

Stansfield’s presentation is the first tangible sign that QHC has begun actively planning for the future of the Picton hospital.

Stansfield acknowledged that many hurdles lie ahead.The LHIN and Ministry of Health and Long-term Care have yet to be persuaded to free up funds for what will be a unique pilot project for the province. Both groups have been briefed and have signalled qualified support—but that means little until shovels are in the ground.

“We still haven’t entered the ministry’s planning queue,” said Stansfield. “So this is still years away. It’s made more unpredictable because there is no model for this in the province.”

But the challenge is also one of the project’s key strengths.

“This represents real innovation in rural health care,” said Stansfield. “We believe it has the potential to grab the attention of ministry officials.”

Central to the success of this project—indeed the reason it originated here in the County—is the close collaboration that exists between physicians, allied health care professionals and the hospital in this community.The hospital and the family health team already share electronic health records safely and securely among care providers. This is a critical and necessary piece in putting the patient at the centre of the health care system.