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THUNDER BAY, Friday, October 4, 1996 - The Health Services Restructuring Commission today issued its directions for restructuring Thunder Bay's hospitals. They are based on the report of the Thunder Bay District Health Council and have been revised and refined in response to community input on the "Notices of Intention to Issue Directions" released in June.
The Commission also released its recommendations to the Ministry of Health on which health services will require additional funds to satisfy the new demands that will be placed on them by changes to the hospital system.
"Thunder Bay residents will have significantly improved access to high quality health care because costly duplication of services, administration and overhead will be eliminated," said Commissioner Donald Thornton. And we are recommending significant reinvestment in other areas of health care in Thunder Bay."
"We are also recommending that a special pool of between $3 and $4 million a year be established to recruit and compensate specialists for Northwestern Ontario. This money is outside the OHIP pool of funds."
All acute care services in the region will be provided at an expanded and renovated Thunder Bay Regional Hospital (Port Arthur site). All non-acute care hospital services, including rehabilitation, chronic care, palliative care and substance abuse treatment will be located at St. Joseph's General Hospital.
As a result of this amalgamation of services the Hogarth/Westmount Hospital will cease to operate as a hospital by March 31, 1997. Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital and Thunder Bay Regional Hospital's McKellar site will close by March 31, 1999.
In addition, the Commission recommended that a new Northwestern Ontario Mental Health Agency be established to identify the area's mental health needs and determine how best to meet them.
It has recommended that the Thunder Bay District Health Council work with the Kenora-Rainy River District Health Council to advise the Minister of Health, by June 30, 1997, on a planning and implementation process for an integrated health care system in Northwestern Ontario. This advice would include the feasibility of establishing an integrated governance structure for health services in Northwestern Ontario.
The Commission has recommended to the Ministry of Health that additional funding should be directed to community services, particularly home care, and to address needs in adolescent mental health. The recommended annual reinvestment target is
$2 to $2.3 million in transitional or sub-acute care to service 54 beds, $2.4 million in home care, $1 million for MRI services and between $3 and $4 million for recruiting and retaining new specialists to the area.
It has also recommended that the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital be given approval to plan for a capital construction project to expand the Port Arthur site by 200,000 square feet and to renovate an additional 50,000 square feet. This will bring the total hospital space to 400,000 square feet, double the size of the present facility. The budget for construction would be set at $64.3 million, with an additional $10 million for equipment and furnishings.
In announcing its decisions, the Commission recognized that some Thunder Bay residents had lobbied hard for construction of a new hospital. However, Thornton said that after two months of analysis and deliberation, the Commission had decided that refurbishing the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital's Port Arthur site is a wiser use of public money.
"In the end, we were not persuaded that it made sense to spend up to $180 million on a new building when a redeveloped Port Arthur facility would result in the same quality of care at half the cost," he said. "Our conclusion was that it made sense, medically and fiscally, to put money into direct patient care rather than into bricks and mortar. Constructing a new hospital would be just too expensive when compared to the cost of redeveloping the existing Port Arthur site, and would do nothing to improve the quality of health care here."
The Commission recommended that St. Joseph's Hospital be allocated funds for additions and renovations to accommodate the chronic, rehabilitation and mental health programs. The budget for the construction project would be set at $10.94 million, with $1 million for equipment and furnishings.
"This is an important achievement for the Thunder Bay community," said Thornton. "Streamlined hospital services will help sustain high-quality health services in Thunder Bay into the next century."
The Health Services Restructuring Commission is an arms-length agency of the Ontario Government with a four-year mandate to review the provision of health service in the province. It is charged with restructuring hospital systems and advising the Ministry of Health on reinvesting in and restructuring health services to improve quality and outcomes.