Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison said Muskoka municipal representatives had an opportunity to meet with incoming Ontario Health Minister and Deputy Premier Christine Elliott at a recent AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) conference.
Aitchison told his fellow councillors at their Monday, Aug. 27 meeting that he was pleased with how things went. He also said the Minister’s responses were promising. He said when Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith informed the Minister that the Board of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare had endorsed two acute care hospital sites for the region, he got pretty excited with her response.
“I almost jumped out of my chair,” said the Mayor. “She said that she 100 per cent agreed with that recommendation and felt that we absolutely had to have two acute care hospitals serving this vast geography. If for no other reason, than it’s a vast geography.”
Aitchison, who sits on the Capital Plan Development Task Force, told councillors the task force’s next step is to figure out how to implement the model. But he said the funding formula is still the elephant in the room. “At the end of the day we are seen as what’s called a large community hospital in the funding formula. We are in the same category as Mississauga General, for example.”
Aitchison said this region’s hospitals simply don’t have the volumes to compete for funding dollars under the Province’s current funding formula. He said while the formula works at driving efficiencies in high traffic hospitals, it doesn’t work here and this region requires life-saving procedures. “We can’t all live in cities,” he added.
He said the Minister’s response was positive.“She agreed that the funding formula is flawed and that it penalizes medium-sized hospitals. That the Ministry had data and they knew that they needed to have it fixed, and that they would fix it.”
Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith pushed the Minister on a timeline as to when the funding formula would be fixed, said Aitchison. He also said Smith reminded Elliott at the meeting that her predecessor, Minister Eric Hoskins, had also indicated that he knew there was a problem, but it was never fixed.
“He asked if we could expect a timeline and if perhaps that timeline could be that the funding formula could be fixed and updated by the end of this fiscal year,” said Aitchison, adding that the Minister’s response was that she felt it was a reasonable expectation.
“I can tell you it was the most promising discussion I’ve ever had with a minister of health and I’m very pleased about it,” said Aitchison. “Obviously there’s more work to be done, we need to continue to keep their feet to the fire, but I’m feeling very good about all that transpired at AMO.”
BY TAMARA DE LA VEGA ON