{"id":44779,"date":"2021-03-05T13:32:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T18:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=44779"},"modified":"2021-03-09T13:36:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T18:36:11","slug":"maintaining-hospital-services-access-to-primary-care-and-poor-transportation-options-among-key-concerns-expressed-in-sackville-health-care-consultation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/maintaining-hospital-services-access-to-primary-care-and-poor-transportation-options-among-key-concerns-expressed-in-sackville-health-care-consultation\/","title":{"rendered":"Maintaining hospital services, access to primary care, and poor transportation options among key concerns expressed in Sackville health care consultation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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After last night\u2019s online health care consultation with Sackville residents, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard says it\u2019s clear the local hospital was top of mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we heard from a community that\u2019s really proud of their hospital,\u201d Shephard told reporters after the event, \u201cand 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

At its peak, 176 people joined in the Zoom call. Shephard told reporters afterwards that she didn\u2019t think an in person event would have drawn as much participation. She said she was pleased with the turnout and the input from participants.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Organizers said that over 250 people had registered for the session. One participant noted they had heard from people who didn\u2019t get to register before the unexpected cut off time of 4:30pm on March 3.<\/p>\n

Last night\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

After hearing introductory remarks from Premier Blaine Higgs and Shephard, as well as a presentation from New Brunswick Health Council CEO St\u00e9phane Robichaud, participants split into 20 groups to answer questions on their community\u2019s challenges, solutions and priorities with health care. Dorothy Shephard dropped in to various groups throughout the night.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

After the session Dorothy Shephard told reporters that the Sackville Hospital was not under threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t have an emergency room without a hospital,\u201d said Shephard, \u201cand we\u2019ve committed to keeping emergency rooms. So I think that means we\u2019ve committed to keeping the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

She repeated her comments from earlier in the evening saying, \u201cevery hospital can be maximized\u201d to establish a \u201cnetwork of excellence\u201d in the province.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the whole network of our hospitals throughout the province, there is some underutilization, there is some over crowding,\u201d said Shephard. \u201cThere\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the province\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important not to underestimate that we can have a network of excellence,\u201d said Shephard. She cited the example of centralized services being effective in the case of hip and knee surgeries offered at St. Joseph\u2019s hospital in Saint John. \u201cAnd we can also say that maybe there\u2019s 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\u2019s about maximizing every opportunity that we have in every single facility.\u201c<\/p>\n

Shephard acknowledged the oft-repeated concerns about how poor transportation impacts access to, and hence quality of, health care.<\/p>\n

Though she didn\u2019t weigh in with ideas, Shephard said that as an MLA for 10 years, she is frustrated \u201cthere\u2019s never been a government that\u2019s really tackled a transportation strategy in this province.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shephard also said she was interested in looking at primary care as being, \u201cmore than a family physician,\u201d including others such as nurse practitioners and pharmacists.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no predicted outcome to these conversations,\u201d said Shephard. \u201cThese are to help us prepare a healthcare plan to table with the RHAs, and then to monitor it and make sure that we\u2019re getting the deliverables we\u2019re asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must continue to ensure that we\u2019re providing the community with what they need. And that\u2019s why having the conversation about their priorities and understanding what their community needs are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

FURTHER CONSULTATION SESSION DATES AND COMMUNITIES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Anyone interested in attending a session,\u00a0may register online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Members of the public are also encouraged to submit feedback by emailing\u00a0healthplansante@gnb.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:   After last night\u2019s online health care consultation with Sackville residents, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard says it\u2019s clear the local hospital was top of mind. \u201cI think we heard from a community that\u2019s really proud of their hospital,\u201d Shephard told reporters after the event, \u201cand they obviously…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":44783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,223,225],"tags":[],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44779"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=44779"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=44779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}