What was said

On Thursday January 24 QHC met with a committee of council to discuss a proposal to eliminate nine of the 21 beds at PECMH as well as other services from the Picton Hospital.

The following is a précis of the discussion.

QHC chief Mary Clare offered a few opening remarks. She observed that health care is undergoing transformation and that she was asking people to understand that going backward was not an option. She emphasized her commitment to four hospitals then concluded with, “You may fear you are losing services from your hospital—but you are not losing services in your region.

Then Katherine Stansfield, director of patient services for QHC spoke.

“All other provincial budgets are impacted by the growing cost of health care,” Stansfield explained to the committee of council. “This is not sustainable. We have to live within our means.”

Stansfield tallied the recommended cuts to PECMH: Eliminate nine inpatient beds eliminate maternity services eliminate outpatient physiotherapy divert some emergency patients (ie hip fractures and mental health)  eliminate endoscopy ( i.e. colonoscopy)

“The long term vision still works,” said Stansfield. But she admitted that the Picton hospital was being cut disproportionately to other hospitals in QHC.

While Picton is to endure nine bed closures of 21 (a 43 per cent reduction), Trenton Memorial will cut five of 31(16%) while BGH is set to lose eleven beds of 206 (5%).

Mayor Peter Mertens responded by agreeing that “there is not argument health care needs to change. But at the same time it is important to look to places where it is working—like Prince Edward County.

“We are feeling abandoned in this community—this process is flawed,” said Mertens.

“Moving services and care out of the hospital and into the community is the right idea. But that is where the province should have started. We simply don’t know if the increased funding to the CCAC is enough to address the gap.”

“Last year we lost 78 nursing care beds from this community. Now we hear we might not get them back.

“The province recognizes that small community hospitals are not the same as large urban hospitals and has not subjected them to this new funding formula. This should have worked for our hospital—but instead because we are part of QHC, it worked against us.”

Councillor Barry Turpin offered the view that twelve beds is not a viable hospital. “We have 20 plus doctors who have a great interest in our hospital.

“Most people agree community care is a good idea—but it must be in place before you cut services in this hospital. This is happening in the wrong order.”

“Sophiasburgh councillor Kevin Gale says “there is nothing that casts a darker cloud over this community then when QHC is looking for efficiency. We need a public meeting with the MPP, the LHIN and QHC. This is unacceptable.”

Sophiasburgh’s other councillor Terry Shortt pressed QHC officials to look beyond the immediate pressure on the hospital corporation’s finances.

“You see this as a challenge—but what you don’t see is what cuts like these do to the community. This community supports its hospital. The donors and volunteers have been led down the garden path. The message has to go up the chain—we need to stop this. Rural communities are not respected.”

Shortt had difficulty squaring QHC’s optimism for the future of the Picton hospital with the plan to cut nearly half the beds and other services.

“How are you going to persuade the province we nee a hospital if you are cutting this many beds?

Athol councillor Jamie Forrester asked how QHC came up with the recommendation to cut nine beds from Picton.

“May be we should look at adding beds rather than cutting,” said Forrester.

QHC’s Katherine Stansfield said that analysis had been gathered from across the hospital about how many of our patient beds could be used better? The conclusion that more beds and services could be cut from Picton without diminishing the overall quality of care.

South Marysburgh councillor Barb Proctor, herself a former health care worker pointed out that despite successive rounds of cutting at PECMH, QHC’s cost continue to climb.

“This community has endured 12 years of consolidation and cut—but it has yielded no savings to QHC. Who is measuring the social and economic impact of these decisions on this community? Our tax base is at risk in this community.

Proctor accused QHC of undoing some important progress in this community.

“These cuts fly in the face of the work that has been done to transform primary care in this community.”

Hallowell councillor Heather Campbell charged QHC with autocratic decision making. “Where is the collaboration? Never did I think we would be threatened with nine bed cuts.

“I am supportive of more community care–but we just don’t have the capacity, stability or quality to provide services at home. We need to start this conversation at a different level.”

North Marysburgh councillor Janice Maynard reminded QHC that the province has developed an alternate funding model for smaller community hospitals.

“We need that kind of funding model for PECMH,” said Maynard.

Stansfield recounted the story of the first patient encountered as a nurse. The woman was in the hospital after having cataracts removed.

“She was in hospital for two weeks,” recounted Stansfield. “Patients often left sicker than when they arrived. That was the standard of care then. Now cataracts are done in a day.”

Mary Clare Egberts concluded acknowledging that “everyone agrees that geography has to be an issue. These changes are probably happening too fast. The CCAC has to be there lock step with us if we are to be accountable.”

She said, too, that some of the cuts were likely to be made as soon as April.