Horizon CEO Stands By Proposed Reforms

The CEO of the Horizon Health Network is standing by controversial health-care reforms cancelled by the province.

Karen McGrath says despite overwhelmingly negative feedback, many told the health authority changes are long overdue.

“We believed, and I have said we still believe, these were reasonable measures that would help make our health-care system more sustainable,” McGrath said during Horizon’s quarterly board meeting Thursday.

“Change is hard, but change is exactly what is needed to ensure that we’re able to provide the level of care that our patients and clients expect and deserve.”

Six communities would have seen their hospital emergency rooms close overnight, including Sussex and Sackville. Around 120 acute care beds in those six facilities would have been converted into long-term care beds.

But outrage and protests forced the Higgs government to scrap the proposal just five days after it was announced to make way for community consultations.

In the meantime, McGrath said they have been able to relocate more than 100 long-term care patients to nursing homes as part of their pandemic response plan.

She said that has resulted in a “significant reduction” in hospital occupancy rates to the lowest levels in many years.

Now that occupancy rates are below 85 per cent, McGrath said it is imperative to find ways to keep them there.

“If we can’t find a way to stay there, we will not be able to respond appropriately to the second wave [of COVID-19] when it comes,” she said.

“We simply can’t afford to go back to the state we were in where levels were regularly above 110 per cent and we were using every nook, cranny and closet available to us. Our staff, and more importantly our patients, deserve better than that.”

Over the next year, McGrath said they will be monitoring occupancy levels, surgical wait times and the number of long-term care patients in hospital waiting for care.

She said they will also continue to work with health partners, staff and physicians to find solutions to build a more sustainable health-care system.

“We all know these challenges aren’t simply going to go away without taking meaningful action, so I think most of us can agree that doing nothing isn’t an option.”