While the financial woes that have plagued the Rouge Valley Health System for years must be addressed, reductions in front-line staff and essential services should be the last place to look to make up millions of dollars in shortfall. And, as evidenced around two years ago when word of a "temporary" transfer of maternity services caused more than 1,000 local residents to gather at the Ajax Community Centre, service cuts at the local hospital are not taken lightly around here. The system, which includes the Rouge Valley Ajax and Pickering hospital, and the Central East Local Health integration Network (LHIN), in a week or so will go public to address how exactly the former's going to deal with what president and CEO Rik Ganderton has called "a big financial problem." The Rouge Valley system has an estimated $78-million debt and the writing's on the wall from the LHIN, a provincial body given the task of planning health care here and in south-central Ontario as a whole (and, as critics have rightly suggested, a convenient buffer between hospitals, and communities, and the provincial government).
Mr. Ganderton has said the solution involves staff cuts and layoffs will be "considerable."
Programs, too, are probably on the chopping block. System spokesman David Brazeau has said emergency services will continue to be offered "24/7" and "babies will be born at both hospitals."
Hospital staffers are understandably concerned for their jobs and the impact that staff/service cuts will have on the community. Already rumours are swirling regarding what services will be cut or removed altogether.
We understand from the hospital its plan for dealing with the financial crisis is to be approved by its board on March 25, and that "staff town halls" will take place the next day. The LHIN board will publicly approve the plan three days later, and it is to be implemented in early April.
Hospital board chairman Tom Atkins in December said "we will continue to communicate openly with our staff, our partners and our communities."
Now, if implementing the plan in early April means there will be about a week or two period between when it's made public and when it's put in place, with no town hall for residents, it's clear Mr. Atkins' promise made just three months ago isn't being honoured.
-- Ajax & Pickering News Advertiser