Health services organization in Haliburton announces more detailed consolidation plans as Minden ER set to close
Following the public announcement that Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS) would be consolidating its emergency services at its Haliburton site as of June 1, staff and leadership have been working to confirm the technical elements of the transition.
The decision to consolidate was based on severe and ongoing shortages of physicians and nurses at both the Haliburton and Minden sites, with HHHS needing to bring together its services and staffing at one site in order to maintain any emergency services in Haliburton County, according to the media release.
The Haliburton site was chosen because it is the location of the only in-patient (acute care) beds in Haliburton County, which require physician coverage from the emergency department in case of a medical emergency. The organization fought as hard and as long as it could to keep both emergency departments open, says the release, but with no long-term solutions to the staffing shortages, it couldn’t go on any longer. Additional details about the rationale to consolidate are available at www.hhhs.ca/news/frequently-asked-questions-emergency-department-consolidation.
The detailed consolidation plan is based on the comprehensive HHHS Emergency Department Closure Protocol that was initially developed in the fall of 2021, when the organization was first faced with the prospect of multiple, temporary, short-notice closures of one, or more likely, both emergency departments due to staffing shortages. The staff most directly impacted by consolidation have now had an opportunity to confirm which options would work best for patient and work flow.
“HHHS is grateful for the incredible work of our hospital, clinical, facilities, IT, and support teams and managers, as well as our other partners, in confirming the detailed consolidation plan,” said Carolyn Plummer, president and CEO of HHHS. “Our staff are the experts when it comes to patient care and their working environment, so it was important that they were able to be part of this process.”
An overview of the Emergency Department Consolidation Plan is available on the HHHS website at www.hhhs.ca/hospital/emergency-department-status.
Work will continue to implement the Emergency Department Consolidation Plan, under the guidance of a Transition Task Force. HHHS will also continue to explore options for short-term and long-term use of the Minden Emergency Department space, with conversations with the community to be initiated after the transition has been completed.
People who don’t know anything about The Advocate are reading this article and thinking the magazine is conservative leaning. I am a fan of the Advocate and have always found it to be questioning. This article needs to be seen not as the full truth, but rather, the spun half truths provided by the HHHS. Surely the likes of The Advocate would dig deeper and uncover how misleading the HHHS has been. The impact of the slaughter of the Minden ED will have great impact on Ross Memorial.
The Advocate ‘advocates’ and it needs to do more sleuthing on this entire matter.
Bernie, I invite you to go to our home page on this news site and read everything we have written about this issue, including a hard-hitting editorial by Kirk Winter called “Ford government hiding behind local health service board on Minden ER closing.”
This particular article is nothing more than a media release from the health agency, as it says in the body of the text. They have a right to see this published or referred to in our pages as well, but the Advocate has been clear in its consistent coverage.