Some 650 residents will be contacted in the coming weeks to give their input on proposed restructuring of hospital services.
The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance has hired an outside company to conduct an extensive phone survey – the next step in its public consultation process as it edges closer to developing a new service delivery model.
The plan calls for possible reduced emergency room hours, and the development of centres of specialty at each of the alliance’s four sites (rehabilitative care in St. Marys and Seaforth, acute care in Stratford and ambulatory surgery in Clinton).
Chair of the alliance board, Leslie Showers, says the surveys will conducted before the end of the month, at which point the alliance will move forward with around round of community engagement, a series of  meetings and town hall discussions.
 “We think it’s important to contact people who may not have heard about (what we’re proposing),” says Showers, noting despite a series of community forums held in late August, early September, and the community report which was published in the Journal Argus Weekender and Stratford Gazette in mid December, there are still many people who are unaware, or don’t fully understand, what the alliance is looking to achieve.
The phone surveys, she says, include about 35 questions and will take approximately 12 minutes to complete.
The number of people being contacted has been expanded by about 100 to include residents of outlining communities who still access one of the four hospitals, she notes, adding there will be some form of screening process to ensure the alliance is receiving accurate information.
The alliance’s plan has come under some heat, particularly here in St. Marys, were a community action group, organized by Mayor Jamie Hahn, was struck to try to save the hospital from service cuts. In December, the group started a petition, which is available to sign at multiple locations around town.
Showers says she encourages the public’s participation, but warns the petition falsely claims the alliance is considering reducing the number of acute care beds in St. Marys.
“That has never been discussed in the Vision (2013 plan), and we have pointed that out to them,” she adds, noting, rather, the alliance is looking at increasing St. Marys’ rehabilitation beds for patients awaiting transfer to a nursing home or who do not need immediate care, thereby freeing up acute care beds in Stratford which are being filled by non-acute care patients.
“We want to utilize what we have in the most efficient manner to give the people we serve a higher level of care,” says Showers. “Hopefully, what the (phone surveys), (and) community forums will do is clarify some of this.”