WELLINGTON COUNTY – The county’s two hospital corporations are considering turning their alliance into a full-scale amalgamation.
The boards of directors for Groves Memorial Community Hospital (GMCH) and North Wellington Health Care (NWHC) recently met to complete a governance review of the Wellington Health Care Alliance.
The review is being driven by the Progressive Conservative government’s pending Ontario health system reforms.
A press release states the boards have directed GMCH/NWHC president and CEO Steven Street and hospital chiefs of staff, to prepare an impact analysis of a potential voluntary integration of the hospital corporations.
“The Ontario government is implementing major health care reform changes which will impact all Ontario hospitals and health care partners – by integrating we feel we will have a stronger voice to advocate for our rural health care services,” stated GMCH board chair Ian Hornsby.
In a telephone interview, Street said the boards are reacting to current government direction by studying their situation, but haven’t yet made any decisions.
“They haven’t really jumped to any conclusions, but in light of everything that’s going on with government reform, we’ve heard the government say they want to break down silos, they’ve messaged that through … public health and EMS, consolidating them into fewer organizations across the province,” Street said.
“So this is really, let’s do our due diligence early, so we’re not rushed, and really get a sense of what is in the best interests of our residents and our community and is there any value in them coming together in a more formal way.”
NWHC board chair Brian McMahon stated the Groves board and NWHC, which includes hospitals in Palmerston and Mount Forest, “have a long history of working together and we share a common vision, mission, values and strategic plan.”
McMahon added, “Louise Marshall Hospital and Palmerston and District Hospital formed an alliance relationship in 1996 and then fully amalgamated in 2001 to become NWHC. We then partnered with GMCH in 2005 to create the Wellington Health Care Alliance.”
Hornsby said the alliance has allowed the hospitals to “provide a broader range of services, improve health care for our patients, attract specialist support, maximize resources and keep care close to home.
He added, “We would like to better understand what the benefits are to patients if we were to amalgamate and if it would add value or end up costing the system more.”
Street explained the impact analysis will include, “at minimum, a community engagement strategy, risk analysis, communication plan, financial impact, and a draft implementation plan,” which will be presented to the NWHC/GMCH boards in the fall.
“We have already met with staff and physicians to begin the discussions,” said Street.
“At the centre of all the discussions will be how can we together achieve our mission to advance exceptional care and wellness for our patients?”
Street told the Advertiser that unlike a 2015 review that resulted in the boards integrating governance models (including creation of a joint-board with decision-making powers) but stopped short of amalgamation, this study isn’t being mandated from above.
In August of 2015, the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network board appointed a facilitator from the consulting firm KPMG to integrate the governance structure of North Wellington Health Care and Groves hospitals “into one” by Nov. 30.
That move was met with opposition by NWHC, with then-chair Tom Sullivan explaining the board was concerned about services and equipment “migrating” to Groves and the potential impact that could have on the viability of its hospitals in Palmerston and Mount Forest.
“We’re not being told at all, but we want to go in with our eyes wide open,” Street said of the latest amalgamation talks.
“If the government does direct us to do something, we’ll be prepared. If they do not, then we’ll at least have the information and if we see value we’ll look to take advantage of it.
“Or if we think we’ve already extracted the value then we will just keep in the status quo.”
Street said the concerns that made the idea of amalgamation controversial in 2015 have been mitigated over time.
“Four years ago it was pretty controversial coming together and I think that we have done quite a bit of integration over the last four years; the single management team, a lot of our clinical programs are already standardized and integrated and this is really to do an impact analysis to see is there any value to full amalgamation, or have we already realized most of the value through the work we’ve done together on an integration basis,” Street explained.
“We’re really not looking at migrating services at all. In fact, one of the reasons the Wellington Health Care Alliance has been so successful in the past three years is it’s an equal partnership.”
He continued, “NWHC has an almost identical budget to Groves. And we share things equally, so … that fear is not as prevalent today.
“We’re not planning to move any equipment, we think maintaining the relationship we have with the local donors, keeping separate foundations, keeping our three separate sites, is still very much part of our strategic plan.
“In fact, with government reform and the formulation of these new Ontario health teams, leveraging the infrastructure the hospital has in each of our communities is something that we think gives us an advantage.”
The boards stated community updates will be made available through local media and hospital websites: www.gmhc.ca and www.nwhealthcare.ca.
