As a local resident, current Board member and Past Chair of the Groves Memorial Community Hospital Board (GMCH) I am deeply concerned that the Community has not been given adequate context around the current discussions between the two boards of Groves Memorial and North Wellington Health Care (NWHC). First, it is critical to understand that these discussions do not directly impact services, facilities, equipment, staff or anything material in the day to day operations of either hospital corporation. They are focused strictly on the governance structures in place to oversee those operations.
The directors on both hospital boards are volunteers, chosen for their area of expertise and their passion to improve healthcare for our community. Both hospital boards have consistently strived for the best possible care for all our residents regardless of which hospital they use, and both Boards are committed to the Alliance. When the Alliance was formed (combining the three hospitals in Palmerston, Mount Forest and Fergus) the resulting larger operational entity allowed us to recruit and retain a higher quality management team, attract more specialist physicians, and bring new clinics like pulmonary function testing and services like Palmerston’s dialysis and diabetes counseling closer to residents around all three hospitals. It has allowed us to maintain a full, high quality staff, sound financial results, and excellent care year after year. With strong staff and community support our small hospitals in Fergus, Palmerston and Mount Forest have won awards for excellence, accredited at the highest level and performed above benchmarks despite a difficult economic and recruitment environment.
Our wonderful Foundations and Volunteer Associations have also thrived. New equipment like the CT Scanner, provided through their generous support has created better working conditions for our excellent medical staff at all sites. While we are excited for a new hospital in Fergus the Groves Hospital Board has also vigorously supported the preservation and upgrading of both the Louise Marshall and Palmerston Hospitals. We are fortunate to have exciting new construction projects at all three hospital sites, not just at Groves. Finally, the Alliance between Groves and North Wellington has been a cornerstone of the Rural Wellington Advisory Council, a broader Alliance of healthcare service providers which has better integrated your care and brought roughly $1.5 million in new funding for programs like Healthlinks and Community Outreach Workers to help high needs residents in all communities; funded through and well managed by the Mount Forest Family Health Team.
While the Alliance has been very successful working on a consensus basis the governance structure has no process in place to resolve differences and make final joint decisions. This has often left management with differing and sometimes opposing direction for future work. The WWLHIN has required the two Boards to address this structural problem and that is what you have been reading about. Through that process our top priority continues to be the preservation and improvement of the healthcare you receive. A new governance model needs to support that effort and enable deeper conversations with our healthcare partners about better integrating our work to create a higher quality, more seamless care experience for all Wellington County residents.
Healthcare is an important issue for all of us and your input is essential. We look forward to discussing the future of healthcare governance for our small hospitals with you over the coming months.
Respectfully,
Paul Smith
Centre Wellington
Paul Smith