The CEO of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance says there are some "inaccuracies" in a recent report surrounding hospital governance.
The Ministry of Health released the document courtesy of Investigator Bonnie Adamson, which recommends a supervisor be appointed to fix the governing and administrative system of the CKHA. The three governing boards of the alliance haven't met in over four months due to "irreconcilable differences."
While CEO Colin Patey says they're looking forward to working with the new supervisor, he claims some context could have helped clear up some controversy in the investigator's report. While the report points to the CKHA's deficit as a major issue, Patey claims the hospital system functions quite well.
"There's hardly a hospital in the province without a deficit," says Patey. "You ask the [Erie St. Clair LHIN] and they'll tell you Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is financially the best-performing hospital in the region."
The report also sites an excess of management positions within the CKHA. Adamson says cutting some of those roles would greatly save costs. But Patey has an answer for this too, explaining many of these managers have responsibilities with other healthcare systems.
"So many of them are shared positions with Bluewater, for example," says Patey. "On the Bluewater chart, they're not a full-time position, on the CKHA chart it's not a full-time position."
Patey says the payroll of these positions often fall under the CKHA budget, but are eventually reimbursed by these other healthcare groups.
Overall, Patey trusts the new supervisor will "address the issue of the problematic governance structure," that's been with the CKHA for some time.
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