A special supervisor has been put in charge of the Addictions and Mental Health Services agency in the Napanee to Kingston area, following financial and service concerns by the Local Health Integration Network.
Following concerns from the LHIN in the past year, an investigator produced 99 recommendations covering financial and clinical issues with the provincially-funded agency. Then, the CEO of the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Addictions and Mental Services left office.
LHIN CEO Paul Huras tells Quinte News a special supervisor has just been appointed, as of Tuesday.
Huras says, “That person (the supervisor) has authority to do whatever needs to be done to ensure the organization can continue to provide the services…”
Huras says where there is evidence of poor performance among the agencies the LHIN intervenes. “In this case,” he said, “the LHIN was not satisfied with the agency’s response to the 99 recommendations.”
Referring to the investigation, Huras pointed out the 99 recommendations included financial and clinical issues, referring to financial he said the agency wasn’t sticking to its budget. “There is also a reporting mechanisms and other aspects. We have accountability agreements with each of these organizations which lay out what our expectation is for their performance We are obligated to measure that performance to report publicly on their performance, and where there is evidence of poor performance to intervene, and that’s what caused all this. So we intervened.”
The newly-appointed supervisor, Karen Berti, is expected to take about six months to develop a new plan, and a new board, for the agency.
Berti will be addressing the 99 recommendations that had been handed down by the investigator.
Huras did not have a figure right at hand but did tell Quinte News the agency services “thousands of people.”