Minister defends Horizon, as doctors, community leaders, and foundation step up lobbying efforts<\/p>\n
There is cautious optimism among the Upper River Valley Hospital (URVH) medical staff and community leaders as both gear up for consultation meetings with Horizon Health and government leadership this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are (either) coming to listen or just hoping to stifle dissent, I\u2019m not sure,\u201d said Dr. Bill Goodine, noting he remains optimistic.<\/p>\n
Last month, Goodine and others sounded the alarm about surgical services at the Waterville hospital, breaking their silence after nearly two years of behind-the-scenes lobbying.<\/p>\n
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The issue centres on surgical scheduling and recruitment. Everything related to surgery management is controlled off-site, through Fredericton, which has caused issues that doctors say have led to staff resignations and recruitment difficulties. Doctors also say Horizon has not made sufficient effort to replace staff. The story has put Horizon and the province on the defensive.<\/p>\n
Since the River Valley Sun first published the story, other doctors have begun publicly lobbying New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt on social media. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cURVH has been down to one general surgeon since March 2025,\u201d said Dr. Katie Goodine on a December Facebook post about gas prices from Premier Holt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a physician at URVH, and we are being kept in the dark. How does this impact Labour and Birth services? Unfortunately, my team hasn\u2019t been provided with any updates,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Goodine went on to explain that the remaining surgeon at the hospital, Dr. Gurpreet Singh Ranger, was given a Dec. 12 deadline to sign a new Alternate Funding Plan (AFP) contract with Horizon, which essentially, in Goodine\u2019s words, \u201celiminates after-hours surgery at URVH. AFP contracts are not temporary,\u201d she pleaded. \u201cPlease help! Please help!\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodine\u2019s sister, Dr. Natalie Goodine, is a physician who is part of the Obstetrics and Newborn Care team at URVH. She also added her voice to the cry for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI second this,\u201d Natalie wrote on the Facebook post. \u201cSending everyone who needs care after-hours to a facility over an hour away is not a safe solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went on to say that this \u201cunilateral decision\u201d was made without the knowledge of the medical staff, and we are furious.\u201d<\/p>\n
URVH physician Dr. Chris Stone also broke ranks and asked the premier for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur medical staff opposes these changes in the strongest possible manner. These changes to surgical services have been slowly orchestrated over the years in an effort to reduce local acute and ambulatory surgical access,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe individuals behind these changes hide behind emails and use terms like \u2018collaboration\u2019 when in fact our medical staff is left in the dark, and there\u2019s zero collaboration with local physicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Stone went on to say that the individuals making these \u201cdisastrous changes\u201d don\u2019t live in the area, don\u2019t work in the area in most cases, and have \u201cno idea the impact this will have for patients residing between Nackawic and as far north as Riley Brook, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horizon, for its part, says the issue lies with its inability to get doctors to fill surgical positions. Multiple medical staff pointed to Horizon\u2019s recruitment website, which, until Dr. Goodine spoke with the River Valley Sun in December, was devoid of any URVH surgical positions.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Dr. John Dornan in mid-December, the New Brunswick Health minister said Horizon Health is not to blame.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult and complex and hard to solve. If it was easy to solve, we would have done it a long time ago.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dornan defended Horizon\u2019s recruitment work and noted that in the past, the community has been very helpful in hiring primary caregivers and family doctors who provide obstetric care.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a strength in the community,\u201d he told the River Valley Sun. \u201cHowever, attracting specialists is harder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Christmas, regional mayors issued a call to action in a news release from the Western Valley Regional Service Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2004, the commitment from the Provincial Government to the region was the establishment of a regional hospital located in Waterville\u2026 This commitment has not been honoured, and it does not reflect the current local healthcare reality for the more than 35,000 residents of the Western Valley Region,\u201d reads the news release.<\/p>\n
They called on Horizon Health to allow the Upper River Valley to operate as a distinct healthcare region within its network, with autonomy for local management and medical leadership.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Jan. 10, the Upper River Valley Hospital Foundation, which just weeks ago delivered a new MRI to Horizon for the Waterville hospital after two years of fundraising, posted a call to action on its Facebook page.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe encourage everyone who cares about local health care to reach out directly to our government leaders and local MLAs to share your concerns, ask questions, and advocate for strong, stable services at URVH,\u201d said the social media post.<\/p>\n
The foundation asked people to consider emailing the premier, the health minister, and their local MLAs.<\/p>\n
A source not authorized to speak on behalf of Horizon Health confirmed that Dr. Singh Ranger has still not signed Horizon\u2019s AFP contract. There is no word on the date of the meeting between Horizon and provincial officials, URVH medical staff, and community leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minister defends Horizon, as doctors, community leaders, and foundation step up lobbying efforts There is cautious optimism among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-412263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}