Chair of the TMH Implementation Task Force, Marsha Stephen. (Photo: Quinte News).
The Trenton Memorial Hospital Implementation Task Force has almost finished its task.
The Task Force, made up of local health service providers plus two other community organizations, held
its last meeting Thursday.
Several changes will be made in the next few days to a draft report and the group’s final report will go the various
boards of directors for endorsement by the end of next week.
A public open house to see the Task Force plans will be held on June 16th, time and place to be announced soon.
The report’s final stop will be at the June 27th meeting of the Southeast Local Health Integration Network board where the board is likely to vote its approval, or not.
The report’s highlights include a commitment by the the healthcare providers involved to immediately explore ways to integrate services to improve the patient experience, while not adding significant cost.
This is known as “functional integration” and is Phase 1.
Phase 2 involves co-locating all or some of the healthcare providers’ services and staff into a new building, to be known as a “hub”, to be built on land owned by Quinte Health Care across from Trenton Memorial Hospital.
The cost to build a 30,000 to 35,000 square foot “hub” is set at around 16 million dollars.
If all partners eventually agree to co-locate and the provincial government supports the idea with funding, a “hub” could become a reality in 5 years, or perhaps less.
The recommended Phase 3 in the report calls for a brand new Trenton Memorial Hospital to be located on land next to the “hub”. This is best described as a vision for the future, as there is no immediate need for a new hospital.
Meanwhile, one of the big hurdles standing in the way of the providers getting together appears to have been cleared.
In past meetings, consultants reports suggested that the task force members would end up paying a total of around $400,000 more for rent and other hard costs in a new “hub” than they are now in their current locations.
However, a more detailed study involving the LHIN and other experts showed that the partners’ costs in a new location would be similar to what they are now because of efficiencies caused by being together physically and savings in energy consumption, etc.
The healthcare providers on the TMH Implementation Task Force are the VON, the Community Care Access Centre, the Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre, Quinte Health Care, the Brighton Quinte West Family Health Team, and Addictions and Mental Health Services.
Others at the table are the Southeast LHIN, OurTMH, and the Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation.
The main goal of the Task Force was to find ways to improve healthcare for residents in and around Quinte
West and Brighton with an eye to keeping Trenton Memorial a viable hospital for many years to come.
The Task Force is chaired by Marsha Stephen.
