A provincially-appointed supervisor, Brenda Flaherty, has taken over direction at the Waterloo Wellington Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), after its chief financial officer Kevin Mercer’s recent departure.
The leadership change comes on the heels of an organizational report received earlier this month by the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) that was critical of the way the CCAC operated. The LHIN oversees funding of the access centre.
The report, reviewed by the WWLHIN board and presented by Brad Campbell, president of Corpus Sanchez International, painted a scathing picture of how the access centre functioned.
“Overall the review team concluded that a failure of leadership at the highest levels within the CCAC resulted in a degree of organizational dysfunction surrounding its role in the larger system,” a LHIN Newsletter about the board review stated.
“This dysfunction resulted in services restrictions being implemented with virtually no advance notice to the provider community and some patients and families were immediately impacted.
“Campbell explained health service providers interviewed by the review team described this as a situation that has occurred repeatedly, and that it has a direct impact on patient care, access and ultimately quality.
“Campbell presented the opinion of the review team: that this situation could have been avoided or at least mitigated through more contemporary and thoughtful planning processes on the part of senior leaders.”
No connection between the review and Mercer’s departure has been made public. Mercer was paid over $243,000 last year, according to figures released by the province.
“The board of directors thanks Kevin for his contributions to the organization and extends their best wishes to him as he pursues new opportunities in the future,” a press release from access centre directors stated.
Flaherty was appointed by the Ministry of Health.
“I want to thank the staff and service providers at the Waterloo Wellington CCAC for the important work and care they deliver every day in the community,” Flaherty said.
“I look forward to working with them to bring about the changes recommended in the recent organizational review report to ensure the community’s needs are being met.
“I will listen and bring about any changes that are necessary,” she added.
The access centre provides assistance to patients needing personal support when they return home.
