Groves board signs hospital service accountability agreement

Groves Hos­pi­tal  board chairman Janet Val­lery announced recently that the board had signed the 2008-09 Hospital Service Accoun­tability Agreement with the Wa­t­erloo-Wellington Local Health Integration Network (WWLHIN).

Vallery said, “Groves has been able to develop a plan to guide hospital operations for the next two years.

“Our plan was mutually negotiated with the WWLHIN and has a goal of financial recovery along with long-term sustainability en­suring a satisfactory level of services to meet our commu­nity’s needs.”

The plan includes one-time spending by the WWLHIN to assist Groves in its transition to financial stability and a bal­anc­ed budget.

Groves Chief Executive Offi­cer Jerome Quenneville said, “Although we are confi­dent of achieving the balanced budget status, Groves is still faced with a significant chal­lenge of limited financial re­sources to meet increasing health care needs of the com­munity. We must investigate alternate models of service de­livery, including enhancing our partnerships.”

Quenneville add­ed, “We had to make the difficult decision of realigning our out­patient physiotherapy pro­gram, recognizing that these ser­vices are also available within the community.”

Service enhancements in­cluded in the 2008-09 plan include: implementation of CT services at Groves in 2008; implementation of the aging-at–home program Telehome Monitoring for Rural Seniors; a partnership with the Upper Grand Family Health Team, the Waterloo-Wellington CCAC; Waterloo-Wellington Futures Development Corporation; and North Wellington Health Care; additional support from the Waterloo-Wellington CCAC for discharge planning and en­hanced mental health access to crisis resources.

Groves currently has an annual operating budget of $21-million. A balanced budget is projected for 2008-09 and 2009-10. Services are con­tinually being monitored and Grov­es works with community partners to help support on­going local health care, reduc­ing duplication and adding efficiencies where possible.

Vallery is pleased the orga­ni­zation has been able to suc­cessfully negotiate the agree­ment with the WWLHIN.

“Although we have a lot of hard decisions to make, we are fortunate to have exceptional physicians, staff, and volun­teers who will continue to pro­vide exemplary care through these challenging times.

“We are also very fortunate that our family of health care providers in the WWLHIN area are open to collaboration and partner­ships.”