SBGHC Board Meeting Minutes: Secret Decisions Erode Trust

The Strategic Plan for the SBGHC effective until 2025 asserts that the values of this corporation include teamwork, empathy, accountability, mutual respect, and safety. It sounds good but a review of board meeting minutes available on their website reveals their cynical interpretation of those values.

Let’s review the concept of accountability. Surely a Board that operates under these values might welcome an open discussion on this matter. What does accountability mean and how is it practiced? A simple dictionary definition of the word indicates it involves a “willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.”

As managers of this corporation, Board members are expected to maintain a set of minutes, a record of the proceedings that clearly outlines their responsibility for decisions and actions taken in the performance of their duties. And that brings us to the idea of transparency. What is it and what does it matter?

In decisions involving business or governance practices, transparency means being open and honest. The reader of any minutes produced should be able to easily understand decisions that were made and the reasons for those decisions. It should be clear who is involved in any issue and what factors were taken into consideration. Anything other than open honesty fails to meet this standard.

To quote the Dalai Lama, “A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity”. You can say that again!

Fast forward to the minutes of the April 22nd Board meeting. Those who are familiar with Board meeting minutes from this corporation in the past few years have often noted that the Board frequently leaves the public out of the loop; they go “in camera” to make the decisions that affect the lives of the people in these communities. ‘In camera” means out of sight, in other words, a secret meeting. When they come back into session, they accept the motion that was passed during the in-camera session without stating what the decision was or how it was approved. So, the public is none the wiser.

So now we have an egregious example of Board practice and decision making. The minutes which were recently added to the website indicate a zoom meeting was held on April 22nd. They were called to order at 17:30 pm and one minute later, they went “in camera”. They remained in secret session until 19:10 when there is a motion to come out of camera. They adjourned immediately with a note accepting the decision that was made under concealment. The public portion of the meeting lasted for exactly one minute, although that may not be a significant point since no members of the public or the press were allowed to attend.

Three days later the CEO sent a memo announcing the closure of the Durham hospital effective June 3rd. There was no advance notice to the elected representatives of this community. She and the Board President have argued that they are just moving beds and the hospital will remain open. They have fooled nobody: the facility will no longer meet the criteria for hospital accreditation under the Public Hospitals Act and will be closed. The people of Durham have been stabbed in the back by the Board that says they operate under the values of teamwork, empathy, and mutual respect.

Many people have been writing letters to their MPP, the Premier and the Minister of Health. Perhaps a letter campaign demanding the dissolution of this Board might be something to consider.

Brenda Scott

Co-chair, Grey Bruce Health Coalition