BY RICK PUSIAK
The Minister of Health and Long-Term Care has informed Sudbury Regional Hospital he will recommend to cabinet that a supervisor be appointed to the hospital in 14 days to oversee completion of the facility estimated to be about $200 million over-budget.
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A summary of the long-awaited operational review was released Wednesday, which identifies problems at the hospital including high physician turnover, concerns over the management of capital redevelopment and leadership, and more than $13 million in identified operational savings Â?general efficiencies including items ranging from supplies to length of stay for patients.
(See Page 8 for excerpt of summary. The full 400-page operational review report will be available within two weeks on the ministryÂ?s website.)
Information already released indicates the final bill for a one-site hospital will be $363.3 million Â? four times the original estimate.
Â?The project has suffered from a lack of oversight and adequate supervision at all levels,Â? says the report prepared under the direction of Timmins businessman Jean-Paul Aube, and submitted at the end of October to the province.
Â?Given the decision to proceed with a construction management approach to the capital redevelopment project, it was imperative that HRSRH dedicate adequate internal resources to overseeing all aspects of the project. This did not occur.Â?
There is also a suggestion in the report that two sites, or at least temporary use of the Memorial site, may be considered to save money.
Hospital chief executive officer Vickie Kaminski said the local hospital board remains committed to a one-site scenario and describes it as the only viable option for the community.
She also doesnÂ?t view the appointment of a supervisor as an insult.
Â?We have some large systemic issues that plague this organization,Â? said the CEO.
Â?We need the ministry (of Health) to be on side to resolving them. The supervisor will be the ministerÂ?s way of getting that information that they need to help move us forward.Â?
She said there is a great deal of rumour and speculation about who will be appointed supervisor, but there is no word yet on who that person will be.
Â?The supervisor, under the Public Hospitals Act, has significant powers as it relates to hospitals,Â? said Kaminski.
Â?The extent to which those powers are enacted in a particular hospital is up to the supervisor and the ministerÂ?there is no proposal to remove the (hospital) board or the CEO. There is an expectation that we would work with the supervisor to get on the right path forward.Â?
Sudbury Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci started ringing alarm bells back in 1997 about cost overruns at the superhospital.
He is concerned about the wide-ranging powers the supervisor will have and how long the individual will stay.
Â?The supervisor may be appointed by the minister (of health) but I would want that role to go from supervisor to coach very, very quickly,Â? said Bartolucci.
Â?The difference is a coach simply aids in the facilitation and the completion of the project through his or her intervention or guidance. A supervisor takes almost complete control.Â?
Bartolucci called WednesdayÂ?s news release from the health ministry a significant and extremely heavy announcement.
Â?To me the correct choice is still a single-site model, and that the supervisor commits to real (government funding) dollars,Â? said the Sudbury MPP.
Â?WeÂ?re enormously in the hole.Â?
The hospitalÂ?s operational deficit is pegged at around $30 million. That doesnÂ?t include capital construction.
Â?The supervisor has an enormous task,Â? said Bartolucci.
Â?Our community needs confidence that this project is going to go ahead.Â?
Kaminski said there is a solid 20 to 22 months worth of construction work left to be done at the superhospital.
She added the go ahead and approval from the province will take some time to resolve.
Â?Who knows what issues might happen along the way,Â? said the CEO.
Â?WeÂ?re going to need some additional money (from the province). I think one thing that this operational review has done is put all of the numbers on the table, in front of everybody so we can all agree to them. So we might not like them but we all now have confidence in those numbers, and thatÂ?s a good place to start our negotiations with the ministry.Â?
Kaminski said the operational review was long and arduous but worthwhile. She looks forward to working with the hospital organization over the next several years and seeing the completion of the one hospital site.
The community has donated over $16 million through the Heart and Soul Campaign for the hospital project.
Kaminski said the hospital will be here to look after the health care needs of our citizens and they will have top-notch quality care, eventually at one site, but for now in the current three-site configuration.
