Initially published in the Alliston Herald on August 7, 2008
The Supervisor of Stevenson Memorial Hospital (SMH), Mark Rochon, recently issued a press release championing the hospital's new membership structure as a "21st century design". My first thought: The 21st century is apparently going to be a very worrisome time.
This disturbing "design" is right out of a George Orwell novel. The model mandates that the existing members of SMH will be deprived of their right to vote on all matters of hospital business. From now on, the only individuals who will be permitted to vote are those who comprise the board of directors. In addition to the 12 public members, an additional five individuals employed or affiliated with the hospital will have full voting rights. This select group will, in their sole and unfettered discretion, decide who will be permitted to join their exclusive number. Suffice it to say, anyone who doesn't agree with the status quo need not apply.
Perhaps the most offensive feature of this disenfranchisement is the absence of a compelling rationale to do so. The fact that 47 per cent of Ontario hospitals use this model is hardly sufficient reason to fall in line like a mentally challenged lemming.
Rochon also asserts that the model will attract "the best possible directors" who have the "requisite skills" to manage a hospital. There is a degree of irony in this statement given that one of Rochon's hand-picked "best possible directors" resigned shortly after his appointment following public statements that demonstrated a rather significant degree of ignorance as to how HIV is spread.
The inference to be drawn from Rochon's claim is that he believes the directors at hospitals who do not have this membership structure are somehow lacking and are not "the best possible." It is a perspective without basis in fact.
There have been many good things happen at our hospital of late. An obstetrician has been hired; the birthing unit opened; the emergency room renovated; an application for a CT scan submitted; and, perhaps most importantly, a popular and talented CEO hired. As was pointed out in last week's editorial, if this governance model had been in place a little over a year ago, most if not all of these positive changes would never have occurred.
The implementation of the new structure at SMH should not come as a surprise when one considers that Rochon is also the Chair of the Ontario Hospital Association ("OHA"). The OHA is loaded with hospital CEO's and administrators - the same group who, along with the Deputy Minister of Health, looked upon the recent events at SMH (when the Committee of Concerned Citizens encouraged residents to buy a membership and exercise their right to vote) with great consternation and disapproval. This is a group that no doubt regarded our exercise in democracy as a frightening and unwanted intrusion into "their" domain.
The new model is tantamount to giving a hospital administrator a job for life. Once a board is filled with "friendlies", and those friendlies have the sole discretion to decide who is admitted in the future, then the prospect of a CEO ever being turfed is extremely remote.
Significantly, "governance" is one of the five key objectives/directions of the OHA and it currently publishes guidelines to "assist" hospitals in this regard. Can there be any doubt that the undemocratic "design" announced for SMH is the preferred model of the OHA?
The OHA also identifies media relations as being of "utmost importance" and goes so far as to produce a publication "to help you communicate your point of view effectively to the media."
From the cynical side, my suspicion is that a significant part of this strategy involves the OHA and its members wrapping themselves in a motherhood issue such as the delivery of "safe health care" in an effort to acquire a moral high ground.
Sadly, in the case of SMH members, it would appear that the OHA agenda has triumphed at the expense of our right to vote.
