Grey County is demanding a meeting with Minister of Health Sylvia Jones to discuss the situation at Durham hospital.
An announcement in April that all the inpatient beds were being moved out of the Durham hospital and emergency room hours would be limited to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. only, has angered the community's elected officials.
At its meeting on May 9, county council voted unanimously to seek a meeting with Jones to discuss the recent decision by South East Grey Health Centre (SBGHC) to transfer all ten inpatient beds from the Durham hospital in West Grey to the corporation’s hospitals in Walkerton and Kincardine.
Outside of the council chambers, the bed transfer decision has also prompted significant community outcry and outrage in West Grey. A recent “save the hospital” meeting attracted close to 700 local residents and was a standing-room-only affair.
At a special meeting on April 30, West Grey council voted to look at all possible options to ensure the hospital remains open.
For the second consecutive county council meeting, West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles brought the hospital situation to the county council table.
Eccles spoke to the situation at multiple points during the meeting and said the loss of the hospital beds in Durham was a clear sign that rural healthcare is being threatened.
“If you have a rural hospital, Durham is just the poster child for this right now,” he said. “We’re just the edge.”
SBGHC announced the bed transfer on April 24. The corporation announced the beds in Durham would be transferred to the other two hospitals by June. The corporation said the transfer of the beds is to address an ongoing staffing and nursing shortage. The emergency department in Durham remains open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day and hospital corporation president and CAO Nancy Shaw told local media that there are no plans to close the hospital.
The next day, Grey County Warden Brian Milne said the county, which operates a long-term care home and a paramedic station (both of which are expanding) in Durham, was “blindsided” by the corporation’s announcement.
Eccles said the hospital corporation’s lack of consultation with the county was a serious concern.
“I feel Grey County is being disrespected,” he said. “We need to get to the bottom of this sooner or later.”
Grey Highlands Mayor Paul McQueen moved a resolution requesting that the county seek an immediate meeting with Jones on the issue.
“We need to go directly to the Minister of Health,” said McQueen. “Let’s take it right to the top.”
McQueen said it was disappointing to see hospital beds being removed from Durham so soon after the province announced an expansion of the nursing program at Georgian College in Owen Sound. He said it would take a couple of years for local graduates to emerge from the program and help alleviate the nursing shortage the hospital corporation is claiming it faces.
“We need to address it ASAP,” said McQueen. “It could happen to a lot of our hospitals.”
Council also agreed to invite Shaw and hospital corporation board chair Jim Bagshaw to a future meeting to further discuss the situation.
