An online petition by the Our TMH community advocacy group. The group seeks to stop a proposal to move day surgeries and hospital equipment from Trenton Memorial Hospital to Belleville. Photo courtesy Our TMH
By Joseph Quigley [1]
BELLEVILLE – The plan to move day surgeries out of Trenton Memorial Hospital has outraged members of the Quinte West community and prompted local politicians to seek answers from the province.
A delegation including Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison and Northumberland-Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi met with Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins at the Ontario Good Roads/Rural Ontario Municipal Association annual conference [2] on Monday to discuss plans for the hospital.
The main talking point of the meeting was the proposal by Quinte Health Care [3] to move the bulk of day-surgery procedures from Trenton Memorial Hospital to Belleville General Hospital as of this coming fall.
The move would also see surgery equipment that was paid for through community fundraising transferred from Trenton to Belleville.
The Our TMH community group [4] is running an online petition [5] calling on QHC – the health authority that oversees the hospitals in Belleville, Trenton, Picton and Bancroft – to stop the move. To date the petition has over 900 signatures.
“We’re very concerned that (if) we lose surgery, we lose our doctors,” Harrison told QNet News Thursday after returning from the conference. “And if you lose your doctors, you don’t have a hospital.”
Quinte West has already invested $5 million in the hospital and wants to ensure it continues to have the support of the province, Harrison said.
At the meeting on Monday, Hoskins – who is himself a family doctor – was supportive of the delegation’s concerns and said he would examine the issue, according to Harrison.
“He’s very aware of Quinte Health Care and he’s very aware of Trenton Memorial. He said to us he wants to invest in Trenton Memorial Hospital to make it a place to be proud of.”
But while Hoskins was receptive, he gave no concrete details as to what that provincial investment would entail, Harrison said.
Quinte Health Care says it is standing by its decision to move the bulk of day surgeries from Trenton Memorial Hospital to Belleville General Hospital, pictured above. QNet News file photo
On Thursday, Quinte Health Care released an explanation [6] of its rationale behind moving day surgeries.
“Quinte Health Care does not have the surgical volumes to split its surgical services between two hospitals while meeting the expected costs set by the province,” the statement read. “The total volume of surgical cases at QHC is 30% less than (at) similar hospitals in Ontario.”
The statement also contests the value of the community-funded equipment being transferred from Trenton to Belleville. While Our TMH says the community-funded equipment that is to be moved is worth $3 million, the QHC statement disagrees.
“Donors generously provided approximately 1.1 million dollars of funding to pay for this equipment over the years,” it says. “Most medical equipment has a short life span and depreciates very quickly, so the current book value of the equipment is approximately $280,000.”
Our TMH vice-chair John Smylie told QNet News Friday he does not think moving day surgeries will actually lead to cost savings, because of renovations that will be needed at Belleville General Hospital so it can take on the extra surgeries. His organization will continue to protest the move, he added.
“We want to keep our services here,” Smylie said. “We’re going to keep pushing and fighting to expand our hospital services here.”
In an interview Thursday with QNet News, Rinaldi said there are some legitimate reasons to shift day surgeries between the two hospitals, including the fact that residents of Quinte West account for only about 25 per cent of day surgeries done TMH. The other 75 per cent of surgery patients come from other areas, including Belleville, Prince Edward County, Brighton and central Hastings County.
But Rinaldi added that the hospital needs to ensure it meets the care needs of its community.
“My biggest concern – and it’s something I’ll fight to the end – is to make sure that we have an adequate level of services easy available to the local citizens,” he said.
Meanwhile, several other ideas for the future of TMH are being looked at.
There is a provincial proposal to create a health hub at the hospital, combining multiple health-care facilities into one building. These facilities could include practitioners such as dentists and chiropractors alongside hospital services.
Rinaldi said the province is still working on the idea and an update should come by May. Hoskins is very committed to making the hub happen, he said.
A group of local MPs is working to bring a veterans’ health facility to Trenton Memorial Hospital, citing its proximity to CFB Trenton. QNet News file photo
A veterans’ care facility could also be coming to the hospital. The federal government is planning to fund two new health centres dedicated to veterans’ health. Regional Liberal MPs Kim Rudd, Mike Bossio and Neil Ellis, along with Rinaldi, have been working to bring one of these facilities to Trenton Memorial Hospital. The group is citing the hospital’s proximity to Canadian Forces Base Trenton [7] and the area’s large population of veterans.
Rinaldi said he is optimistic about the traction the idea has gotten with the federal Veterans Affairs office, but added that the competition to get the facility will be challenging.
“We have to be realistic. We’re competing with all of Canada.”
The group is still developing the idea for Veterans Affairs, he said, and an update of the proposal will be provided in March.