Councillors approved slate of recommendations for hospital alliance funding, including proposal to limit funding to hospitals located within Simcoe County<\/p>\n
Simcoe County is being urged to overhaul how it funds local hospitals following a year\u2011long review of the Simcoe County Hospital Alliance (SCHA).<\/p>\n
The review, completed by Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y) and presented to councillors during Tuesday\u2019s committee of the whole meeting, found the region needs \u201ca more coordinated and structured approach to hospital capital planning\u201d to keep pace with rapid population growth and rising infrastructure demands.<\/p>\n
It also recommends the county push the province for sweeping reforms to Ontario\u2019s capital funding system.<\/p>\n
Jane Sinclair, the county\u2019s general manager of health and emergency services, said the accounting\u00a0firm was hired through council direction about a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county, of course, has been a longtime supporter of our local hospitals and we have been hearing of late the increased pressures associated with increased capital costs for our hospital partners,\u201d she said, adding E&Y was asked to identify opportunities for increased efficiencies, effectiveness\u00a0and provincial advocacy.<\/p>\n
The alliance is made up of Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in\u00a0Barrie,\u00a0Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, Collingwood General & Marine Hospital,\u00a0Georgian Bay General Hospital in\u00a0Midland\/Penetanguishene,\u00a0Stevenson Memorial Hospital\u00a0in\u00a0Alliston,\u00a0Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care\u00a0in Penetanguishene, and\u00a0Southlake\u00a0Health\u00a0in Newmarket.<\/p>\n
The final report includes six recommendations for the county and five areas for provincial capital\u2011funding advocacy, which E&Y says would \u201csupport improved alignment between capital investments, service needs\u00a0and population growth across Simcoe County.\u201d<\/p>\n
The county currently allocates $3 million annually to the SCHA under a 15\u2011year, $45\u2011million policy that runs until 2031. Local hospital leaders told the firm\u00a0the funding has not kept pace with inflation or the scale of modern capital projects, which now range from tens of millions to multibillion\u2011dollar builds.<\/p>\n
Alliance members also urged the county to stop funding hospitals outside Simcoe County,\u00a0such as Southlake\u00a0Health\u00a0in York Region,\u00a0arguing dollars should be redirected to local expansion projects.<\/p>\n
That suggestion drew pushback from at least one councillor.<\/p>\n
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor James Leduc questioned the recommendation and attempted to remove it from the motion, though his amendment was defeated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for me to sit here and say to the residents in the southern portion of the county that we are not going to help support Southlake, even though they provide major services to many residents,\u201d he said. \u201cFor us to sit here and put a message out there that we are going to do a marketing share plan in the sense that we are going to only market within our own border, doesn’t make sense to me.<\/p>\n
“I fully support some of the recommendations in there, but I have a real problem with (the second recommendation),” Leduc added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The firm proposed six changes to the county\u2019s funding policy:<\/p>\n
\n\tIntegrated regional planning \u2014 requiring hospitals to participate in a coordinated planning process
\n\tLocal\u2011only funding \u2014 limiting county dollars to hospitals physically located in Simcoe County
\n\tNon\u2011clinical space limits \u2014 restricting funding for non\u2011clinical areas
\n\tCommunity health key performance indicators (KPIs) \u2014 to reduce pressure on acute care
\n\tStandardized growth forecasting \u2014 across all hospital partners
\n\tPotential funding increase \u2014 reviewing the current $3\u2011million annual contribution.
<\/p>\n
The firm also recommended the county advocate for five provincial reforms, including exploring hospital amalgamation \u2014 similar to Niagara Health or the new Waterloo Regional Health Network \u2014 and revising the Information, Communications and Automation Technology (ICAT) cost\u2011sharing model, which hospitals say is outdated and inequitable.<\/p>\n
Other provincial recommendations include shifting toward regional capital planning, requiring municipalities to be consulted during site selection\u00a0and adopting more advanced analytical tools.<\/p>\n
Babek Aghdaee, a partner in E&Y\u2019s infrastructure advisory practice, stressed that amalgamation refers to planning, not closures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not saying something has to be amalgamated. This is not the nature of the recommendation,\u201d he said, noting that in the examples cited, hospitals \u201cform the planning function and the capital function combine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean any service is being eliminated. It doesn\u2019t mean any hospital is not going to serve the residents,”\u00a0Aghdaee added.\u00a0“It\u2019s a central function that thinks about what can be done and where it can be done at the most efficient level. Amalgamation is around the amalgamation of thinking and planning, not closure and amalgamation of the actual facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adjala\u2011Tosorontio Mayor Scott W. Anderson argued the county should avoid provincial\u2011level advocacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hospitals, directly, need to be involved in that,\u201d he said, adding the program was created to support local community shares, not to \u201coverstep bounds with the provincial government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is to help our local hospitals fund their community share and our community programs. That\u2019s what this policy needs to reflect,”\u00a0Anderson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Penetanguishene Mayor Doug Rawson acknowledged the complexity of health care and the growing capital pressures facing local hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all faced with impossible challenges and I know locally hospitals are telling us they\u2019re having a hard time meeting their capital demands,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about one hospital being better than another. It\u2019s about how we can have a bigger impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
He disagreed with Leduc\u2019s concerns about Southlake.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about Southlake or what they do or don\u2019t do. This is about who we can help,”\u00a0Anderson said.\u00a0“Every time we say yes\u00a0to something, we have to say no to something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rawson noted county residents use hospitals across the province, but considering all of them \u201cwill only serve to complicate the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur local hospitals say they need help and we need to look at where we can have the biggest impact,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Council ultimately approved the recommendations as presented.<\/p>\n
County staff will now revise the SCHA funding policy and report back on potential increases to annual hospital funding.<\/p>\n
The warden will also write to the provinvce’s health minister\u00a0advocating for changes to Ontario\u2019s capital funding program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Councillors approved slate of recommendations for hospital alliance funding, including proposal to limit funding to hospitals located within…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392,270706],"class_list":["post-759398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hospital-fundingcounty-of-simcoesimcoe-county-hospital-allianceernstcounty-councilschachange-in-funding-for-simcoe-county-hospital-alliance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759398","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=759398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}