The Board of Health for the Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Unit will make a decision on Wednesday whether to move forward on merging with the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) Health Unit and the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark (LGL) District Health Unit to form the South East Health Unit.
Ontario is encouraging mergers to create single units with populations of 500,000 or more and will pay the costs, however, amalgamations are not being mandated.
The decision to look into voluntary mergers came from an announcement in August 2023 by the Ministry of Health at the Association of Municipalities Ontario conference that changed how public health units would be funded and directed.
In a business case presentation set to be delivered at the special meeting on Wednesday, it outlines the rationale for a merger including similarities to governance model and approaches for each health unit. It also highlighted geographical similarities for all three areas the health units cover, with a mix of urban and rural areas.
Under strategic challenges in its feasibility study presentation, it outlines the need to support staff wellness and organizational culture in the face of upcoming changes as well as retain key staff through the first few years of the proposed post-merger.
It also outlines “important but potentially challenging discussions” between each of the three health unit’s Board of Healths on approaching handling different funding levels as each of the health units currently have different per capita funding levels.
If approved, the new governance model for the South East Health Unit’s Board of Health would be as follows:
- City of Kingston: two representatives
- County of Frontenac: one representative
- County of Lennox and Addington: one representative
- The City of Belleville: one representative
- The City of Quinte West: one representative
- The County of Hastings: one representative
- The County of Prince Edward: one representative
- United Counties of Leeds and Grenville: one representative
- Lanark County: one representative
Two rotational seats appointed by the municipalities of:
- Brockville
- Prescott
- Gananoque
- Smiths Falls
There are conditions attached to a potential approval including a commitment from the province that it would provide the funding requested to support the merger, including the transition costs and business continuity/stabilization funding.
It is also on the condition that the KFLA and LGL Boards of Health express their intent to merge with HPEPH.
A voluntary merger business case must be submitted to the Ministry of Health by April 2.
