Hospital planning

Latest proposal to be unveiled on May 2

Anew hospital in Picton? Plans to replace the aging and now grossly oversized Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital (PECMH) with a new facility have been considered for several years. The need for modern infection controls and better integration with the County’s family health team and other community care agencies and service providers has driven discussions and planning for a new hospital and health care campus.

Getting to a plan that fits the needs of this community and fits in the funding box of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) has proven to be hard to achieve.

But local and regional healthcare officials, hospital administrators, politicians and supporters feel they are getting closer to a plan they believe they can sell to the ministry.

On May 2, they will gather in Picton to unveil what they believe to be a winning proposal.

Quinte Healthcare spokesperson Susan Rowe says previous plans have not progressed past the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

According to Mayor Peter Mertens, this is because the line between hospital and other services wasn’t clear enough in previous drafts. Provincial funding models couldn’t be made to fit the proposed integrated plan.

“Conceptually, they had difficulty with the first proposal,” said Mertens, “which had a variety of services: fully integrated with the family health team; Community Care for seniors; diabetes clinic—all intermingled in one building.

“The group concluded the hospital must be in a different building. That is the track we are on now, and have been on for six months.”

ONLY WAY THROUGH
Dr. Elizabeth Christie has been part of the team that has been providing input to the plan. She says shrinking bed capacity at PECMH has rendered the existing hosptial oversized and inefficient. Renovations to improve infection control would be expensive and wouldn’t address the fact that the vast empty space must be heated, cooled and maintained. PECMH, in her view, is living on borrowed time.

“I see that as the only way this community is going to continue to have a hospital,” said Dr. Christie. “It is pretty hard to be able to justify 12 beds in that great big building for very long. But you can build a new building with related services and capacity, and operate that facility more efficiently.”

The municipality had hoped to attract the new hospital along with the family health team to develop on lands behind McFarland Memorial Home. But Mayor Mertens says QHC has not yet approved a site.

“It has yet to complete a due diligence process to determine the best location,” said Mertens.

He notes that the prospect of a new hospital in Picton is still several years away. Yet he is excited that there is progress and that the various parties around the table agree it represents the best way forward.

Susan Rowe confirmed that the proposal remains in the early stages.

“The business case first must be approved by the LHIN, and then it can go to the ministry to start their evaluation process and get into the queue of Ontario hospitals waiting for redevelopment,” said Rowe.

Indications are the LHIN is now on board and supportive of the plan. Yet navigating the provincial labyrinth is expected to take years.

That said, the May 2 announcement will come one day after a provincial budget is tabled, and perhaps hours before a provincial election is called in Ontario. Will politics play a role in the future of the Picton hospital?

In any event, QHC is eager to turn the page— to shift the discussion away from shrinking services and capacity, to building a new hospital. It is not yet that clear volunteers, donors and contributors are ready for that conversation.