After last night’s online health care consultation with Sackville residents, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard says it’s clear the local hospital was top of mind.

“I think we heard from a community that’s really proud of their hospital,” Shephard told reporters after the event, “and they obviously want everything to stay the same. But I think we had really good comments at the end and understanding that my desire is to create a network of excellence.”

Many of the comments that were reported back from breakout sessions in the massive Zoom call touched on the hospital, and its importance in the community, whether it be in providing chronic care services, lab services, or access to an emergency room.

At its peak, 176 people joined in the Zoom call. Shephard told reporters afterwards that she didn’t think an in person event would have drawn as much participation. She said she was pleased with the turnout and the input from participants.

The online format meant people could drop in for a short period during the session, however many complained online that they had issues getting into the call, and there were technical issues within the meeting, as the larger group was split into smaller discussion groups.

Organizers said that over 250 people had registered for the session. One participant noted they had heard from people who didn’t get to register before the unexpected cut off time of 4:30pm on March 3.

Last night’s session was the first of 15, as part of a virtual tour announced for March and April. Organizers said that anyone who missed the Sackville session could attend another in the series (see the end of this story for a list), and also that feedback is being collected by mail and email. Shephard also said that people could communicate their feedback to their MLAs.

After hearing introductory remarks from Premier Blaine Higgs and Shephard, as well as a presentation from New Brunswick Health Council CEO Stéphane Robichaud, participants split into 20 groups to answer questions on their community’s challenges, solutions and priorities with health care. Dorothy Shephard dropped in to various groups throughout the night.

Facilitators then summarized group discussions, hitting on certain themes repeatedly. Besides the desire to keep hospital services intact, transportation and access to primary health care providers was mentioned in most groups. People also mentioned the lack of access to alternative care providers, be it nurse practitioners or midwives and doulas in maternity care.

People gave suggestions for improving doctor recruitment, while some called for the creation of a multidisciplinary or community care centre, where doctors could work collaboratively with other practitioners. Several people mentioned the need for on-call emergency mental health services, even if offered virtually throughout the province.

Students were also mentioned as having particular needs, since they typically have no family doctor in town. Another issue specific to Sackville is the cross-border nature of the care that many people seek out and use.

After the session Dorothy Shephard told reporters that the Sackville Hospital was not under threat.

“You can’t have an emergency room without a hospital,” said Shephard, “and we’ve committed to keeping emergency rooms. So I think that means we’ve committed to keeping the hospital.”

She repeated her comments from earlier in the evening saying, “every hospital can be maximized” to establish a “network of excellence” in the province.

“When you look at the whole network of our hospitals throughout the province, there is some underutilization, there is some over crowding,” said Shephard. “There’s things that need to be addressed. And I believe we need to look at every single hospital in our province and maximize the opportunities we have there.”

Though the province’s discussion paper on health care painted a grim picture of changing demographics and projected growth in health care costs, Shephard shied away from indicating service cuts would follow, saying that solutions might not always mean more centralization.

“It’s really important not to underestimate that we can have a network of excellence,” said Shephard. She cited the example of centralized services being effective in the case of hip and knee surgeries offered at St. Joseph’s hospital in Saint John. “And we can also say that maybe there’s a service that could be done in a more rural hospital, or a hospital outside of a large urban area that that people could travel for. So I think it’s about maximizing every opportunity that we have in every single facility.“

Shephard acknowledged the oft-repeated concerns about how poor transportation impacts access to, and hence quality of, health care.

Though she didn’t weigh in with ideas, Shephard said that as an MLA for 10 years, she is frustrated “there’s never been a government that’s really tackled a transportation strategy in this province.”

Shephard also said she was interested in looking at primary care as being, “more than a family physician,” including others such as nurse practitioners and pharmacists.

Shephard stressed that what she was undertaking was a healthcare review, and not necessarily healthcare reform. She said she is working on a five-year health plan to be delivered to the Regional Health Authorities.

“I have no predicted outcome to these conversations,” said Shephard. “These are to help us prepare a healthcare plan to table with the RHAs, and then to monitor it and make sure that we’re getting the deliverables we’re asking for.”

“We must continue to ensure that we’re providing the community with what they need. And that’s why having the conversation about their priorities and understanding what their community needs are so important.”

FURTHER CONSULTATION SESSION DATES AND COMMUNITIES:

Tuesday, March 9, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sainte-Anne-de-Kent;
Thursday, March 11, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Caraquet;
Tuesday, March 16, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Perth-Andover;
Thursday, March 18, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sussex;
Tuesday, March 23, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Grand Falls;
Thursday, March 25, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Campbellton;
Tuesday, March 30, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Moncton;
Tuesday, April 6, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Upper River Valley;
Thursday, April 8, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saint John;
Tuesday, April 13, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Charlotte County;
Thursday, April 15, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Bathurst;
Tuesday, April 20, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Fredericton;
Thursday, April 22, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Miramichi; and
Tuesday, April 27, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Edmundston.

Anyone interested in attending a session, may register online.

Members of the public are also encouraged to submit feedback by emailing healthplansante@gnb.ca.