Quinte Health Care officials say they want to calm some anxiety that may be felt by residents in Quinte West, when it comes to the future of Trenton Memorial Hospital.
QHC Board Chair David MacKinnon gave a presentation to Quinte West Council on Monday night outlining some of the “substantial and rapid” developments made at TMH over the past decade and some of the major plans to come.
MacKinnon noted that a look at the number of patients coming in shows how vibrant the hospital is and says plans are in the works to develop a much-needed expansion in the inpatient unit and emergency department.
“We currently see over 34,000 patients each year and we anticipate a 9% increase over the next five years and 12% over the next 10 years. The number of patients having outpatient surgery has more than doubled in the past decade, from 3,900 to 9,500 last year.”
MacKinnon says there has also been a sharp increase in the number of ambulatory visits to TMH in the last 10 years, which has led QHC to start looking into the need to replace the hospital in 15 years or so.
When it comes to how much the hospital has grown, MacKinnon told council that there have been a number of improvements in services over the past decade.
“The growth includes moving the 20-bed complex continuing care unit and the domestic violence and sexual assault team, from Belleville to Trenton. We’ve added a medical day clinic, an internal medical clinic, diabetes education, clinical nutrition support, inpatient therapies and a pulmonary functions lab.”
Those services are in addition to what will be offered at the “health hub” being built next to the hospital, which QHC CEO Mary Clare Egberts said “could include a dialysis clinic” somewhere down the line.
MacKinnon also spoke about the passion and pride that Quinte West residents have in TMH, but noted the need to broaden those feelings across the Quinte Health Care network.
He says it’s not just residents of Quinte West who are coming to Trenton Memorial for much-needed procedures.
“In the past year, 77% of the patients having procedures done at Trenton Memorial Hospital came from outside Quinte West. These include residents of Belleville, Picton, Brighton, Bancroft, Frontenac, Northumberland and Lennox and Addington counties.”
MacKinnon says those numbers go the other way as well, with thousands of people from Quinte West getting various treatments at the hospitals in Picton and Belleville, which shows the need for all four of QHC’s hospitals to work strongly together.
He also spoke about an upcoming partnership with other area hospitals, including Kingston and Peterborough, to better share patient records and information, since many people from those areas come here for medical procedures and many from the Quinte Region go there as well.
MacKinnon’s presentation also included a note on the importance of the COVID-19 testing centre operating in Trenton and praise for City Council in their continued support of QHC, as well as for the recognition for the Docs by the Bay recruitment team.
He says QHC will continue to coordinate with them to bring more doctors to the region, who will practice primary medicine, but also assist with shifts at hospital emergency departments.
You can click here to read MacKinnon’s full presentation and click here to read a fact sheet from Quinte Health Care about services offered at the group’s four hospitals.
