Health & Fitness

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Kincardine and Huron-Kinloss will work with the Friends of the Kincardine Hospital to seek information from the South Bruce Grey Health Centre hospital board.

That was the decision from the tripartite meeting held last night (June 24) in the Huron-Kinloss council chamber.

The meeting was called to discuss the recommendations from the report by Schroeder and Schroeder, an independent consulting firm hired by the Friends to delve into the health centre's board governance and management practices.

Maryellen Pollard, co-chairperson of the Friends, said the group gave this report to the hospital board in March, hoping to have a private "working" meeting between the two groups to go over the recommendations in the report. However, the board allotted only 15 minutes at its April board meeting which the Friends said was not enough time and asked to postpone their presentation.

Unfortunately, the board told the media that the Friends were a "no-show" at the meeting which Pollard said was not true.

They were then allowed 28 minutes at the May meeting to review the report with the board, but there was no discussion allowed, said Pollard.

Barb Fisher, chairperson of the Friends' governance committee, said the group was disappointed at the reception it received (or rather, did not receive) from the hospital board.

"The board and management do not seem receptive to talking to anybody," she said. "They accept reports and then do what they want to do, without discussing anything."

She urged both councils to help the Friends get together with the hospital board to go over the recommendations in the report.

Fisher said Harold Schroeder, author of the report, is a certified health executive with a long list of credentials. "He was well-qualified to do the job," she said.

The resulting 71-page report contained three major recommendations, mainly centred on the lack of communication between the hospital board and the public, said Fisher.

The first recommendation was for the hospital board and management to adopt a more open engagement style.

Fisher said new legislation from the health ministry means the Local Health Integrated Networks (LHINs) are now in charge of how board governance is managed.

"However, this board is going to make changes as it sees fit, in its own time line," she said. "We're asking you (councils) to ask them (hospital board) to make a presentation on this new legislation to council, and tell how the changes are going to be made. You have a right to that information - the whole community has a right to that information."

The second recommendation deals with board composition and structure, stating the number of directors should be reduced.

Fisher said the new legislation already dictates that. "Some of this is already happening," she said, noting that at the board's annual meeting Wednesday night (June 23), it reduced the number of board members to 11, and changed the bylaws so the chief executive officer (Paul Davies) does not have voting rights.

The Friends are concerned about the lack of representation for Kincardine on the board.

"One-third of the budget is spent in Kincardine," she said. "We should have that same representation on the board. The Friends started working on these issues almost two years ago. Kincardine used to have three directors, now we have two and one is planning to retire."

She said the board members are not allowed to talk to the Friends. They are referred to either the chairman or the CEO.

Fisher said the hospital board expects the Kincardine community to raise $10 million for the hospital redevelopment project, but without any public input. "We should at least have our own representatives reporting to us," she said.

The third recommendation was to have the board tighten up its management structure and clarify the roles and responsibilities of, for example, the CEO versus the chief of staff.

"In the spirit of trying to get along, we left the idea of de-amalgamation of the Kincardine site from the health centre," said Fisher. "If no changes are made, we could go back to beating that drum. If we have no representation at the board level, we can't make our point."

She said that as much as the hospital board doesn't think it must be accountable to the community, it does. "The public owns the hospital and should have a say on how it's run."

Kincardine councillors Guy Anderson (L) and Kenneth Craig chat with Huron-Kinloss councillor Anne Eadie prior to the meeting

Fisher said the  Friends have a sub-committee (working committee), made up of Fisher, co-chairs Pollard and Ken Goldspink, and Bev Bryant.

"We want at least one, possibly two, members of each council (Huron-Kinloss and Kincardine) to work with us in getting information from the hospital board," said Fisher.

The Friends want the councils to draft letters of support for the Schroeder report. They are urging the councils to have the hospital board present the new governance legislation at the council meetings. And they want support for more representation and open communication between the representatives on the hospital board and the public.

Kincardine mayor Larry Kraemer noted there is no reference to municipal representation on the hospital board, in the report.

Fisher said it was likely not a priority as the consultant was gathering information for the report.

Kraemer said he would also like to look into the new legislation and make some phone calls .

Councillor Anne Eadie said it's important to have public input before a board makes a decision - the same holds true for council. "Some boards have part of the board elected from certain areas, and the rest are elected at large," she said.

"As with any board, the board should be elected by the membership," said Kraemer.

Fisher said there should have been 30 days' notice that the board was going to change the number of directors and make any other changes to its board, at the annual general meeting. "We were even at their board meeting the month before which would have been a perfect opportunity to let us know about the changes," she said.

Kincardine deputy mayor Laura Haight said the group should not obsess about the geographical representation, but focus on regional representation and improved communication between the board and the stakeholder groups.

She suggested the Friends sub-committee and the hospital board sub-committee get together with two members from each council and discuss what happened at the board's annual meeting and how it plans to move forward with the proposed changes.

Fisher said the hospital board doesn't meet again until September so there are two months in which to sort this all out.

Goldspink said it angers him that he can get a resolution to a problem regarding the municipality or the school board, but he can't get anywhere with the Kincardine representatives on the hospital board. "They just tell me to talk to the chairman or the CEO," he said. "There's something wrong with that system. It's our hospital and our health care."

Huron-Kinloss mayor Mitch Twolan thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and said each council will choose two representatives to work with the Friends and the hospital board to get information and move forward.

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Friday, June 25, 2010