The Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) has accepted a recommendation to move forward with a legally-binding alliance agreement between two local hospital boards.
“The WWLHIN board has also asked that the hospitals community engagement findings be provided to the LHIN no later than Feb. 12 so that the final decision on the legally binding agreement can be taken at the February 2016 WWLHIN board meeting,” explained LHIN spokesman Elliot Fung in an email response.
On Dec. 9 the boards of Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Fergus and North Wellington Health Care, which operates hospitals in Palmerston and Mount Forest, announced a new integration agreement, effective April 1.
“The two hospital boards believe that this form of integrated governance is in the best interest of the communities served by the two organizations, across three hospital sites and that we are stronger together,” states a press release from NWHC chair Tom Sullivan and Groves chair Howard Dobson.
“We also believe that it will further our partnerships with other health care providers including family health teams, CCAC (Community Care Access Centre) and the Canadian Mental Health Association.”
The alliance supported by the LHIN is consistent with the boards’ memorandum of understanding.
That agreement delegates decision-making authority to a joint executive committee consisting of five representatives from each hospital board.
Although a similar committee already exists, it lacks any decision-making abilities.
The new committee will oversee quality of patient care and resource utilization while the two hospital boards will be in charge of medical staff, material clinical changes, and relationships with foundations and volunteer auxiliary organizations.
The new committee will also have directors who are independent of the hospital and will not have any affiliation that may cloud their judgement, officials say.
Another key component of the new committee is a dispute resolution strategy that allows the boards to resolve internal conflicts without involving the LHIN.
