MAHC 'never expected any group to line up solidly' on hospital redevelopment

The highly contentious topic of hospital redevelopment in Muskoka persists, with a Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) official speaking out about the District adding stipulations to the plan.

"I wouldn't call it pressure added; in fact, there's some real benefit to what the District decided to move forward with," said MAHC board chair Dave Uffelmann on Wednesday.

The current plan is to have a hospital in Bracebridge and another in Huntsville, with different services offered at each.

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The roughly $1 billion project includes $77 million in local share funding from the District. On Monday night, council passed a vote saying its approval must be given before the plan for hospital redevelopment advances to the next step.

"I think it's reasonable for them to consider adding some conditions if they feel that's necessary - they're making a commitment of $77 million, and the fact that our District council wanted to add the condition, that's fine," said Uffelmann, adding, "to me, there's a real bonus that they ask the District Chair (Jeff Lehman) to participate with us to move this forward."

When asked where things stand now, Uffelmann replied, "The District Chair has been in touch with us, and our board had already decided to establish three groups to look at some of the key issues that we see in front of us, those being beds and services, transportation and community integration.

The broader community ties into all of those and we certainly intend to involve a number of stakeholders and now the District Chair will be one of those representatives on some of those committees".

The hospital redevelopment plan has been an ongoing issue since early this year, with hundreds of people attending the proposal meeting in Bracebridge in February. 

Concerns include dividing specific services between the Bracebridge and Huntsville facilities.  Residents and health care workers, including physicians, have opposed the plan, saying dividing the services would limit health care access to many. 

"There are many people who have issues with the plan, and that makes sense.  We never expected that any group is going to line up solidly behind the plan. There are trade-offs, so that does make sense that people have different views," Uffelmann noted. 

"Having said that, I expect we're a long way apart from some people, but I think with many - and I'm thinking in particular of physicians - we're actually quite close, and I'm hoping we can bridge the gap in the near future," concluded the board chair.

MAHC said it understands the need to provide a plan, and the hope is to get the submission to the ministry before the end of this year.