 A proposal to amalgamate a Catholic hospital with a secular hospital in North Simcoe County has been derailed by, among other things, controversy over the provision of reproductive services.
Board members of the Catholic Penetanguishene General Hospital in Penetanguishene, Ont., and Huronia District Hospital in neighbouring Midland have withdrawn their recommendation to amalgamate the hospitals into a unified Catholic health care corporation.
The announcement came after a special board meeting in the late hours of Aug. 2 that had been called to review feedback from community and internal stakeholders about the amalgamation proposal. After reviewing the concerns of physicians, hospital staff and community members, the boards’ executive teams jointly recommended a change in direction.
At the heart of those concerns was the potential elimination of reproductive services such as abortions and tubal ligations, which are not performed on an elective basis at Catholic hospitals. According to Huronia District board chairperson Ron Crane, “(most) doctors agreed that there should be one corporation, that it’s a good business move. They agreed that there are good financial reasons to merge as (we) had proposed, but the service issues are what people are opposed to.”
The initial proposal came in late June, after nearly a year of meetings between the two boards to discuss a practical solution to the Huronia hospital’s financial difficulties. It has accumulated some $5 million in debt in recent years, which has led to the closure of nine acute care beds.
The hospitals have existed as two distinct corporations under the partnership of the North Simcoe Hospital Alliance for 15 years, sharing staff and resources but maintaining separate boards and CEOs. A merger would create one board and one CEO serving a single corporation.
Prior to the Aug. 2 announcement, Penetanguishene General board chairman John Barrett-Hamilton told The Catholic Register that the rationale for proposing a Catholic hospital corporation rather than a non-denominational one was based mainly on financial feasibility. A merger would have allowed Huronia District to receive sponsorship from the Catholic Health Corporation of Ontario, which sponsors health care facilities on behalf of the religious congregations that previously owned them.
If the boards had proposed merging into a secular corporation, a land purchase estimated in the millions of dollars would have been necessary in order to buy Penetanguishene General from the Grey Sisters of Pembroke, who still own the grounds.
According to Barrett-Hamilton, community members, physicians and hospital staff felt that the decisions leading up to the June proposal were made in secret and that they should have had an opportunity to help shape a recommendation to alleviate Huronia hospital’s debt.
As a result, the boards announced the creation of a task force to allow community members, hospital staff and provincial agency liaisons to bring forth ideas on how the amalgamation might best be achieved. The committees, yet to be formed, have a tentative deadline of Oct. 31 to report back to their boards with findings and recommendations.
“Until then, we are staying with the status quo,” said Crane at an Aug. 7 press conference.
Just hours before the Aug. 2 meeting took place, six physicians resigned from the Huronia District’s Medical Advisory Council, citing concerns about an elimination of services including abortions and fertility treatments that would take place if the hospital were to become a Catholic hospital. However, Barrett-Hamilton said “the resignations aren’t really attributed to the boards’ change of heart. We got the reaction from (physicians) three weeks ago in a meeting. They didn’t like the recommendation and we expected people to resign.”
Prior to their resignations, two of the six MAC physicians sat regularly on the hospital board.
The boards hope the latest announcement will encourage physicians to return to their board positions and work together to reach an optimal solution to the financial difficulties.
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