David McNeil, the new man at the helm at Health Sciences North (HSN), said he is pleased to be back in Sudbury.
McNeil was commenting Wednesday during an interview with Sudbury.com while he is preparing to officially settle into his new job on Oct. 16.
HSN announced Tuesday that McNeil is returning to Sudbury to serve as the president and chief executive officer of both HSN and the Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI).
Among other things, McNeil is a registered nurse and began working at the old Laurentian Hospital in 1991. Over the years, he rose through the ranks and eventually spent more than 20 years on the hospital executive leadership team, which included being senior vice-president.
Most recently, he was CEO for the Brant Community Healthcare System in southwestern Ontario, retiring from the post after five years.
McNeil said HSN has grown and improved significantly in recent years and has become a significant academic health sciences centre.
"So I think the community can be proud of this organization," he said. "We've just recently been accredited and the organization got a designation of exemplary accreditation status, meaning that the community can be confident that the service quality here is of the highest standard that one could expect from any hospital system in Canada, according to accreditation standards."
House in order
McNeil said he will soon be briefed on the current financial situation at HSN, but based on public records in recent years, he is pleased to see that the hospital's financial house is in order.
"What we do know is Health Sciences North, over the last five years, has run a surplus at the operating line. So that provides, I think, the community with a lot of confidence that the financial house of HSN is in good order," said McNeil.
He said based on what he has seen so far he has no obvious concerns for the financial health of the hospital at the moment.
With that in mind McNeil said his current priority is to work on the strategic plan.
"In the first year, I think part of what we need to achieve is getting a strategic plan done, making sure that the organization remains financially strong and financially viable, that we are beginning our discussions around how do we look? And what does the facility look like into the future to meet the capacity needs of the community," he said.
Looking further down the road, McNeil said the capacity issue at the hospital will continue to be a priority and HSN indeed needs more beds.
"And yes, we are going to have to work to make sure that the capital redevelopment of the hospital does move forward so that we have the banded capacity and other programs and services to support the needs of the community so that people aren't always relying on inpatient care," he said.
He added that once plans are made, it is likely that expansion will take place at the site of the current hospital complex on Ramsey Lake Road.
"But my anticipation is that, you know, with the physical infrastructure here, significant investment has been made by the province of Ontario and the community. So I would say that most plans that would see future expansion for the next 25 to 50 years will be plans that would see future expansion on the existing site, given the huge infrastructure investment that's been made."
McNeil also responded to a question about his salary at HSN and said the pay package is set by the hospital board and is regulated by the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act.
As it turns out, McNeil's salary history is close to that of former HSN CEO Dominic Giroux. In 2022, Giroux's salary was listed by HSN as $368,953.
In the same year, McNeil's salary as CEO the Brant Community Healthcare System was listed as $361,859.
McNeil said that is very close to what he has agreed to for the new job.
Sudbury.com asked McNeil if he was satisfied with the salary package.
"This is a privileged role, to be the president and the CEO, and it does come with what I would call a privileged compensation package, for which I would expect that I will be held to account by the board, as well as the community."
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
