Here’s a few of the questions pitched to task force members after they unveiled proposed design plans for the future Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals
HUNTSVILLE — The public wanted answers.
Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare capital plan development task force representatives welcomed roughly 70 people to the Active Living Centre in Huntsville on March 7 for the last of five information sessions held in Muskoka on design options and cost estimates for the future renovation-expansion or replacement of South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge and Huntsville District Memorial Hospital in Huntsville.
Another roughly 168 people attended the sessions in Bracebridge, Dwight, Gravenhurst, Port Carling, combined. A sixth session was slated for Burk’s Falls on March 8.
And after seeing the proposals, the public had questions. Here is some of what was asked in Bracebridge and Huntsville:
1. Will the stress caused by working in a building under long-term renovation be taken into consideration when choosing a preferred option? Have staff or physicians expressed a preference?
Harold Featherston, chief executive diagnostics, ambulatory and planning for Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare, said renovation-related workplace stress would be an important part of the task force’s ongoing consideration of the three options for Bracebridge hospital and two options for Huntsville hospital. The options include either renovation and expansion of the existing hospitals or completely new builds.
“We currently are doing renovations. Both of our emergency departments are under construction,” said Featherston. “If you go talk to those staff today and ask, ‘How would you like to do this for the next six years?’ I’m pretty certain what the answer would be.”
2. If the Bracebridge proposals range from $182 million to $198 million and the Huntsville proposals range from $197 million to $210 million, is it correct to assume that each community would need to raise $40 million toward the projects?
Cameron Renwick, task force chair and hospital board vice-chair, confirmed the amount, but noted it was a very rough estimate made early in the process.
The province would fund 90 per cent of construction costs, leaving the community responsible for the remaining 10 per cent as well as additional costs such as equipment, furniture, fixtures, land acquisition, land servicing and revenue generating spaces such as parking lots and gift shops.
3. Why are all 14 proposed stroke rehab beds earmarked for Huntsville hospital?
Natalie Bubela, chief executive officer for Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare, noted that the proposed models were based on an increase to 157 beds across the two hospitals, compared to 96 beds today.
The additional beds included 14 regional stroke rehabilitation beds based at the Huntsville hospital, which was a designated stroke centre for North Simcoe Muskoka.
The Bracebridge hospital, comparatively, would have 24 regional complex continuing care beds that also served North Simcoe Muskoka.
4. Will the future hospitals be constructed using a public-private-partnership model?
Tim Eastwood, principal for consultant Stantec Architecture, confirmed that, under current provincial procurement practices, any construction project that cost more than $40 million, including hospitals, would be subject to public-private partnership arrangements.
But he noted that, at this point, it was unknown what exactly that arrangement would look like in Muskoka.
“There are different models. In one model, the developer builds it and operates it. In another model, they build it and finance it. And in a third model, they just build it,” he said, as examples. “It’s like leasing a car. There is a premium for it.”
Featherston added that the provincial rules left little choice on the matter.
“(But) it is a choice we all have to express whether we like that or not to our local, provincial and federal leaders,” he said.
Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Tony Clement, a former minister of health and long-term care for the province, had attended the information session in Huntsville and later defended public-private partnerships as a means to hospital construction, and amortizing the significant cost associated with that construction, nothing more.
“The way the Ontario government has worked the last 15 years? The Ontario government owns the hospital,” he told this newspaper. “The private sector doesn’t own the hospital. I guess that could be a model. … But it really has gone out of favour in Ontario.”
He added that hospital services would remain publicly funded and publicly provided.
“The Canada Health Act is very clear. All the services have to be available to everyone without additional cost,” he said. “So the idea of charging people because it’s a P3 hospital? It would be illegal under the Canada Health Act.”
Find more information about the proposed models online at mahc.ca, and provide feedback on them via an online survey at surveymonkey.com/r/MAHCfuture until March 24.
by Alison Brownlee
Alison Brownlee is the regional government and health-care reporter for muskokaregion.com. She also writes about people and issues across Muskoka. Reach her at: abrownlee@metrolandnorthmedia.com . Follow her on Twitter and Facebook