An interview with Halton Healthcare Services CEO

OAKVILLE — In a survey done every year by the Ontario Hospital Association amongst patients being discharged from hospital,the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospitalconsistently rates among the top five in all of the GTA and is the highest rated hospital in Halton and Peel according to John Oliver, the CEO of Halton Healthcare Services. This ranking, he said, is a “great credit to the staff and the doctors of the hospital who make up a very good team of caring and compassionate professionals.”

Oliver is the CEO of Halton Healthcare but not too many people realize that since 1998 both Oakville Trafalgar Memorial and Milton District Hospital have come under the umbrella of this organization. They own both hospitals and a nursing home in Oakville and will shortly be adding the Georgetown Hospital to their ranks. One board and one management structure operates all but “we have not promoted that,” he said. He added that it has always been our policy to keep the local community hospital identity strong and in the forefront. “Fund raising is done for the specific community.”

The crucial issue impacting Oakville he told The Business Executive is “the aging of people already living in the area and growthin the Oakville population in general.” Atthe same time, the existing hospital site ison a small (10 acre) site that has had 10 major building projects on it over the past 55years. “This considerably restricts anyfuture changes and expansions.” A population growth study, he continued, found that the current hospital can only sustain population growth projected to 2008 and, after that, it would not be possible to sustain services. In order to provide future services, the hospital will have to build in a new area although exactly where has not yet been determined. Two sites are being looked at — Highway 5 and Third Line and Highway 5 and Trafalgar Rd.

A more immediate expansion, however, will take place at the existing site for maternity services. Presently, there is a lack of space for deliveries but that will be alleviated with this expansion. In addition, the hospital just received a license to replace their old outdated CT scan with one utilizing the latest technology.

One issue of considerable concern to most people is wait times for such services as joint replacements, cancer and cataract surgery and diagnostic imaging (CT scans and MRIs). Oliver said that “the Ministry of Health has recently set up a web site that compares hospitals on these key criteria and that Oakville Trafalgar is presently performing at around the provincial average.” That, however, may not continue, he said, as “there is no room to add in more CT scans or MRIs until the new building is in place.”

Most people are also concerned about wait time in the emergency and Oliver did state that the wait that the average person sees is often extensive. However, people are evaluated (called triage) as soon as they come in to assess the severity of their problem and are treated according to that priority setting. He encouraged people with minor complaints “to visit a walk in clinic or to make use of the Ministry of Health telehealth help line” (1-866-797-0000).

The emergency wait time that most people don’t see is for stretcher space and in patient beds. Unfortunately, patients may be “backed up” due to a shortage of stretchers so that they must remain on ambulance stretchers or because of a shortage of beds within the hospital that prevents them from being moved out of emergency. Often, the wait for beds in the hospital is dependent on the wait to move patients into beds in nursing homes and long term care facilities from the community hospital. “That tends not to be the case in Oakville,” according to Oliver whosaid that “the problem facing Oakville is one of growth.

“Every year more and more people are coming to the emergency,” he said, “but the bed capacity has not kept pace with the demand.” This is partly due to the growth in the community and the lack of responsiveness of government funding formulae to the problem of growth. Nonetheless, the hospital has had very good relationships with all of the MPPs in the area. Oliver stressed that the hospital “works really hard to have a positive relationship with any government because they are theultimate insurer and flow 80-95% of the money for the services they offer.” TBE

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