Bypass bureaucracy, take urgent care concerns to Queen's Park, says MPP

by Rob Learn

Feb 27, 2008

ALMAGUIN – Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller says he believes the best, and perhaps the only way, to save after-hours urgent care is to go to Queen’s Park.

Talking about keeping the evening and weekend hours of the urgent care clinic (UCC) at the Burk’s Falls and District Health Centre (BFDHC), Miller says that word needs to bypass bureaucracy and go to the top.

“The new structure under the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) almost makes it impossible to hold the government accountable. It removes responsibility from the minister (of Health) and puts it at arms length with the LHIN administrators,” said Miller.

He says that the proposed closing of the after-hours UCC is just one of a few examples in his riding where not enough money is flowing into healthcare.

“I think scary is the word locally. I know that Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) has a deficit and have been told to get rid of it and the only way to do that is to cut service,” said Miller. “ . . . I think the LHIN is a convenient way to duck responsibility that really belongs with the minister.”

The MAHC board which administers the BFDHC, as well as the Huntsville Hospital and the Bracebridge Hospital, is working to eliminate a predicted $2 million deficit for the next fiscal year. Part of that plan is to stop funding evening and weekend hours for doctors working the UCC. The funding is set to stop March 31.

Barry Lockhart, CEO of MAHC, says the cut to service at the BFDHC is a result of a provincial directive for hospital boards to stop funding doctors directly.

Miller says he was unaware of the directive, but says it indicates a bigger problem.

“I don’t want to see services we had in the past lost in the future. I don’t think these ‘one size fits all’ approaches are working, especially in rural communities,” said Miller.

To address that, Miller said, “I will continue to lobby the government for more money for MAHC.”

But, he adds, his options are limited with the provincial legislature not scheduled to sit until March 17 after going on break before Christmas.

“They (the Liberal government) seem to like avoiding the accountability of sitting in Queen’s Park,” said Miller.

With weeks to go until the legislature sits, Miller recommends constituents write or call his offices directly and to make their views known to Minister of Health George Smitherman.