TORONTO: The first test of
legislation creating the Local Health Integration
Networks (LHINs) will go before the courts on
Friday.
The Ontario Public Service Employees
Union wants a court to order the Central East LHIN
to reconsider its decision to cut 20 existing mental
health beds and cancel nine more beds under
construction at the Ajax-Pickering hospital.
The union is arguing the LHIN worked
with the Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS) to keep
the proposed cuts secret until both organizations
were able to quickly approve the plan, leaving the
public and other stakeholders out of the
decision-making process.
The plan was first made public March
25 after it had been approved by the RVHS board.
Three days later the LHIN rubber-stamped the
decision --with no public opportunity to speak to
the issue.
The LHIN not only failed to consult
with patients, families and health professionals
directly affected by the decision, it left its own
Mental Health and Addictions Steering Committee out
of the process, as was mandated in the LHIN
legislation brought in by the McGuinty Liberal
government.
“If the LHIN's board had consulted,
these cuts would likely have never been approved,”
says OPSEU First Vice-President/Treasurer Patty
Rout.
Psychiatrists who work at the
hospital say the cuts to services in Ajax will have
a negative impact on mental health patients. The
loss of one psychiatrist from the region has already
left 500 patients looking for support in the region.
These include patients who suffer from depression,
schizophrenia, suicidal or violent tendencies, and
anxiety/panic disorders.
The hospital plans to use the
resources saved at Ajax to provide combined
medical/psychiatric beds at the Centenary hospital
in Scarborough. "This makes no sense," said Rout.
"This is just about raiding services from one
community to provide them somewhere else."
The case will be before the Ontario
Superior Court of the Justice Divisional Court this
Friday, July 11.
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