Recently the South Bruce Grey Health Corporation (SBGHC)held the second of a series of Community Engagement meetings in Durham, Chesley, Kincardine and Walkerton. After a long hiatus without this type of public consultation, the CEO, board members and staff were on hand in each of these sessions. CEO Shaw summarized the results of the previous community meetings, talked about their challenges and plans and took questions from the audience.
Attendance was strong in the Durham and Chesley meetings while the Kincardine and Walkerton ones had lighter numbers and fewer questions. Can we assume then that people in those communities are more satisfied with the situation as it rests while those in Durham and Chesley are more convinced that their concerns have not been fully addressed?
The relationship between the board and the members of these two communities has been damaged by the long deadly silence over the past two years and by a seeming lack of transparency with decisions that have negatively affected their towns. These Community Engagement Sessions may be seen as a small step in the right direction that over time may bear fruit. However, trust, once compromised, takes a long time to rebuild and for now, members of the Chesley and Durham communities feel there are still more questions than answers.
Emergency departments in Durham and Chesley both remain open only on a part time basis: Durham, since spring this year, and Chesley since 2022. Neither community has evening service and Chesley has no weekend service at all. A recent report by an investigative reporter for the CBC has revealed that, in fact, over the past few years Chesley has had the greatest number of lost ER hours in the province of Ontario.
Residents of both communities are questioning this situation. The rationale given is “staffing shortages” and residents queried what efforts are realistically being made to restore staff and full time ER service. In this recent meeting Nancy Shaw discussed efforts made to recruit staff with job fairs and outreach. There has been some uptake but not enough to return Chesley and Durham to 24/7 hours as demanded by residents. While stating that SBGHC intends to maintain all four of its hospitals, it is perhaps understandable that residents of Chesley and Durham feel short-changed in the process and this feeling was reflected in the questions and comments at both meetings.
And then there is the question of the removal of the inpatient beds from the Durham Hospital. In April, 10 beds were summarily moved from Durham to Walkerton and Kincardine leaving the inpatient unit in Durham empty and under lock and key. The manner of the removal made things even worse. The decision to take the beds was made in-camera at a board meeting with no public consultation. Local elected municipal officials did not receive advance notification of this decision before it was announced to the public. They had no opportunity to provide input and to respond. The message they took from this was that they didn’t matter, and the board would do whatever they wanted with impunity. The resulting meltdown of trust was cutting and the impact of that continues.
Many of the questions raised by those attending the Durham meeting pertained to those beds. Plain and simple: Durham wants their beds back. Now. But wait! There is another iron in the fire. The Board has been looking for other partnerships that would enhance the list of services available closer to home for local residents and they have been negotiating with Brightshores Health System to establish an outpatient Mental Health Assessment and Addictions Centre in the Durham hospital site. This is still in the planning stages and would, we were told, be a public clinic through OHIP. In response to questions the CEO said she thought that even with the addition of this outpatient service, this would not preclude bringing back those 10 inpatient beds in the future. There are, however, more questions. First of all, how long have they been negotiating with Brightshores? The mayor raised this question and suggested twice that negotiations were going on nearly a year ago. The CEO admitted that they meet with Brightshores regularly but did not deny that this had been discussed that long ago….before those 10 beds were ever taken from this hospital. Might one assume this plan has been In the works for that long and were the beds moved to help make room for it? This is another reason to accept transparency as a necessary component in a trusting relationship.
Another question comes to mind. Outpatient services of any kind still require a fair amount of room. They need examining rooms, a waiting room, room for filing and administration, and office space. If we are talking about the same space that was previously taken by those 10 inpatient beds, how does that work? If that space becomes occupied by an outpatient service, might the time come when it is considered impractical to move all of the 10 beds back? So many questions. Might it be a good strategy to involve local people in the planning phase to ensure that any project going forward is more likely to be accepted? Might there be another location in town for the outpatient service? And remember those beds…for the people in Durham that seems to be not negotiable.
There is no doubt, in any disagreement or conflict, that it is better to be talking than not talking. But even with both parties engaged, progress can be slow and there remain so many questions that need answers. The people of Durham and Chesley came to talk; they got some information and some answers but there is a long way to go yet. As Robert Frost would say, “And miles to go before I sleep.”
Brenda Scott
Co-Chair, Grey Bruce Health Coalition