'I've heard nothing': Mayors want update on promised health-care reform

Mayors of some of the small communities that faced the overnight closure of their local hospital emergency departments earlier this year say they've heard nothing about promised consultations on healthcare reform.

They say they understand that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans for consultations that Premier Blaine Higgs promised in February, after he cancelled the planned closures.

But with the legislature returning next week and the government planning to lay out its post-election agenda in a Speech from the Throne, they're hoping their communities will be heard.

"We do count on the provincial government to set up a consultation process long before any kind of implementation of changes would happen," saidPerth-Andover Mayor Marianne Bell.

Six hospitals faced emergency-room closures

Grand Falls Mayor Marcel Deschnes saidhe's "definitely" hoping to hear from the province. "We'd like to meet with them or communicate with them, and we'd like them to take our input on this."

The hospitals in Perth-Andover and Grand Falls were among six that were set to have their emergency departments closed at night under a healthcare reform unveiled by the Higgs government in February.

The others were in Sussex, Caraquet, Sackville and Sainte-Anne-de-Kent.

The government backed off in less than a week, with the premier promising extensive consultations before summer.

Those plans were sidetracked by the pandemic, but now the government is gearing up for a new session of the legislature, the first since the Progressive Conservatives won a majority government Sept. 14.

Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne saidit's not clear yet when or how the government will respect the premier's February commitment to consult, a vow repeated during the election campaign.

"To date the message that communities are receiving from the government is very vague, with no defined timeline," he says.

"I've heard nothing from the province with regard to consultation."

In an emailed statement, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard says her goal is to have a process in place in time for consultations to start "early in the New Year."

Residentsworried about hospital's fate

Thorne says Sussex-area residents are still anxious about the fate of the Sussex Health Centre.

He also says their strong support for PC candidate Tammy Scott-Wallace in the election reflected the government's handling of COVID-19, not confidence in its plans for the hospital.

"That's where most people were placing their focus."

The February health reforms were described as necessary to shift scarce staffing from emergency rooms seeing few patients at night to more primary-care services during the day.

In October, Horizon Health announced that staffing shortages at the Htel-Dieu of St. Joseph hospital in Perth-Andover were forcing it to close seven inpatient acute-care beds.

Horizon said shortages in both inpatient and emergency staffing "have reached a critical status" but that the ER would remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The health authority said the situation had become dire despite "extensive recruitment efforts to fill vacancies."

But Bell says those efforts need to be improved, because continuing uncertainty over the future of the hospital makes it hard to lure health care workers to the village.

Thorne says the only communication from the province he's aware of is a letter Shephard sent to a doctor in the community after he wrote to Higgs about the future of the health centre.

"As the premier indicated during the election campaign, it is not the government's intent to reduce hours at, or close, emergency rooms within our province," Shephard wrote in the Nov. 3 letter.

"Additionally, there is currently no intention to close inpatient acute care beds at the Sussex Health Centre."

Thorne pointed out the word "currently" doesn't preclude closures in the future.

In her email statement, Shephard said "sustainable and high quality healthcare is top of mind" but "we need to make sure we get it right as there have been challenges with the delivery of healthcare services."

Consultation findings were to be released by fall

During the election, Higgs promised that emergency departments would not close and pledged to address the shortage of medical professionals.

His government's budget in March increased healthcare funding 3.9 per cent, with $9.2 million for recruiting doctors to rural areas and for adding nurse practitioners to clinics and emergency departments.

When Higgs cancelled the ER closures in February, he promised to personally visit the six communities with hospitals targeted for ER reductions to "initiate" consultations ahead of a health-care summit in June.

"We need people in this province to be part of the solution and that must start with hearing from the people most impacted," he said at the time, promising to release findings by the fall.

At the time, Higgs was facing a possible defeat of his minority government in a non-confidence vote in the legislature.

The pandemic forced the government to cancel its spring consultation plans. In August,Higgs called an election that gave him a majority.

'No intention to really consult,' critic says

Liberal health critic Jean-Claude d'Amours says he doesn't believe the PCs really plan to listen. He points out the province's Citizen Engagement and Public Consultation website does not include a section on health care.

"The government had no intention to really consult," he says.

Bell says she doesn't want to see consultations that are rushed.

"I wouldn't want the province to do a hasty or quick consultation process. There are many complicated, interrelated issues so I think the consultation process has to be wide-ranging and comprehensive. It won't be done in a weekend and it won't be done in a month."

Deschnes says there's been no word from the province or from the Vitalit health authority. "We have not heard from anyone."

The government will lay out its agenda in a Speech from the Throne when a new session of the legislature begins next Tuesday.