Good evening, my name is Bev Shipley and I am the Member of Parliament for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. 

First of all I want to thank you for organizing this public consultation meeting this evening.  As I think everyone understands, the Federal Government of which I am a Member does not have a role in the delivery of health care services.

However, I want you to understand that what concerns my constituents...concerns me… and that is why I am here tonight to offer you input as they have expressed their concerns to me.  I want to assure you..they are very, very concerned. (Pause)

On Tuesday of this week I sent you a lengthy, (six pages in fact) letter outlining those concerns and I do not expect you to respond to each of the points I made.  Rather, I want to keep my input very brief in order for you to hear directly from my constituents…of which there appears to be a few of tonight.  However, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with personally or in a public forum my letter of March 23rd.

So…let me summarize as clearly as I can what I said in my letter which you have received.

You have not done enough…and what you have done is not very good!

I am referring specifically to decisions which have been made by the Chatham Kent Health Alliance and the LHIN over the past five years or so…and which in my view have led at least in part for us all being here tonight.  I am also referring specifically to the report and recommendations detailed in the Hay Group Study.
For the record…Wallaceburg may be a small community but as I am sure you have come to realize in recent weeks…is that it is a community with a very big heart and a passion for their hospital. (Pause)

And when I say that…I’m not sure based on what I have read and seen reported…that you fully appreciate the fact that they see Sydenham…as their hospital!! And I would encourage you to read local historian Al Mann’s column published in this week’s Courier Press so that you can fully appreciate what this community did to take their hospital from a dream to a reality…and what they have done over the years to keep it.  It is a remarkable story of a truly remarkable small town! (Pause)

Briefly The Hay Group summarizes the issues of concern which they claim support their recommendations.  I respectfully disagree!

The report says:

1.Patient volumes are down
2.The local economy is in decline
3.A lack of medical staff
4.And unidentified structural needs of the building, other than a couple of minor modifications in the ED itself.

The fact that patient volumes are declining may well be related to decisions by the Alliance to eliminate services at Sydenham Hospital over the past number of years.  You have failed to analyze the impact of those decisions.

The fact that the economy is in decline is not isolated to Wallaceburg…and it does not mean that the economy will be that way a year from now or five years from now.  I can show you any number of reports from noted economists from as little as year ago… none of whom forecast the global economic situation we face today.  Personally, I believe Wallaceburg is on its way back and I would point to the very good job being done by Wallaceburg’s Community Task Force as evidence which supports my view.  You may not believe in Wallaceburg…I assure you Wallaceburg people believe in Wallaceburg!

With respect to medical staff recruitment…I claim no expertise.  I do know that many communities like Wallaceburg and even smaller have been successful in recruiting medical staff.  The fact that the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance has failed to successfully recruit staff cannot be laid at the feet of the community…this is the failure of the CKHA!  You have work to do! Results matter…excuses do not!

With respect to the physical structure of Sydenham Hospital I want to make just two brief comments.  If the building has declined it represents a failure of the CKHA to due diligence in doing the things that needed to be done so that the building could not be used as an excuse to support the recommendations of the report.

Secondly…I am having a very difficult time understanding the stonewalling of the CKHA report from 2005 which I understand reviewed the physical needs of the building. Obviously they have know what was wrong with the building for five years and have failed to do anything about it.  Failure to disclose the contents of a building report and then blaming it on the Board of Directors as I understand he CEO did yesterday does nothing more than create an unnecessary irritant for the people of this community who are trying to help you. I hope and trust you will reverse this decision.

For at least the past two years, the CKHA has failed to provide health care services within their funding allocations…and which I would add… have increased dramatically over the past six years.  Poor budget management generally forces people into making poor decisions…and to the degree that you and the CKHA have failed to address this issue…constitutes yet another failure.

In closing…while I have much more I could say…I want to leave enough time for the community to speak. You need to take a step back and not make decisions that cannot be undone later.

But I want you to know…I believe in this community…I stand with them…what you have done is not good enough…and you need to do more!!!

Thank you