Highlights of the Board of Directors regular public meeting
Moncton, October 17, 2017 – The Board of Directors of Vitalité Health Network held its regular public meeting on Tuesday, October 17, 2017 in Moncton.
Privatization of the Extra-Mural Program
Government announcement
Over the summer, the Board of Directors held two special meetings to monitor the progress on this file and to reaffirm its opposition to the plan to privatize the Extra-Mural Program. Since then, numerous individuals, organizations, and associations have expressed their concerns or opposition to this fragmentation of the province’s health care system. Some of these stakeholders include the Association francophone des aînés du N.-B., the Association francophone des municipalités du N.-B., the Commissioner of Official Languages of New Brunswick, and a collection of 16 seniors clubs from the Kent region.
...we had the opportunity to discuss the privatization issue with the Minister of Health during [a] meeting that took place on October 13. These discussions did not lead to a breakthrough...
On September 1, the former Minister of Health, Victor Boudreau, announced that the privatization of the Extra-Mural Program would become effective January 1, 2018. Immediately following this announcement, the Board of Directors requested a meeting with his successor, Benoît Bourque. According to the President and CEO, Gilles Lanteigne, the Network did not receive a reply to its letter dated September 8, 2017. “However, we had the opportunity to discuss the privatization issue with the Minister of Health during our regular quarterly bilateral meeting that took place on October 13. These discussions did not lead to a breakthrough on this file,” Mr. Lanteigne continued.
Physicians support Board of Directors’ position
We believe that the management of the EMP must remain within the public system, under the authority of Vitalité Health Network.
The Regional Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) supports the position taken by the Network’s Board of Directors and opposes the privatization of the EMP. According to the Chair of the Regional MAC, Dr. Nicole LeBlanc, Regional Chief of Staff, the Network’s physicians are clear in their opposition. “Our position in this matter is based on maintaining the quality of the care that we provide our patients,” she said. “We believe that the management of the EMP must remain within the public system, under the authority of Vitalité Health Network.” The Regional MAC brings together physicians representing all of the Network’s medical specialties and geographic regions. Its role consists of advising the Network’s Board of Directors and management on issues around quality of medical care and safety. The MAC also opposes the privatization of environmental and food services, which the government is planning to transfer to the company Sodexo.
New care model at the Restigouche Hospital Centre
The Board of Directors adopted a plan to modernize the structure and organization of the Restigouche Hospital Centre (RHC). This plan forms part of the Network’s efforts under way since the start of the year to ensure that the facility’s services are of excellent quality and to make the necessary shift to align with current best practices in mental health in Canada. For this purpose, the Network has committed to implementing just over 30 recommendations contained in a report commissioned from an external consultant. One of these recommendations was, in fact, to implement a new interdisciplinary care and services model focused on rehabilitation and recovery.
Our vision is to implement program management that meets the needs of the various types of clients rather than unit management...
According to Caroline Drolet, Director of Tertiary and Forensic Psychiatry Services, the new model is designed to strengthen and diversify the available treatment modalities so that each patient’s potential to return to the community can be optimized. “Our vision is to implement program management that meets the needs of the various types of clients rather than unit management as currently exists,” she continued.
The new model is being proposed as part of a review of the RHC’s mandate intended to shift the facility from the status of hospital with an asylum past to that of centre of excellence in evaluation, treatment, and modern psychosocial rehabilitation.
The Network’s university mission – toward full integration
The Board of Directors adopted an action plan to develop the Network’s university mission. This measure supports the implementation of one of the broad directions contained in the Network’s 2017-2020 Strategic Plan, namely to “optimize the university training and research mission” within the organization.
According to Dr. France Desrosiers, Vice-President of Medical Services, Training and Research, this action plan will serve as a roadmap to fully implement and integrate our university mission into the Network’s daily operations and organizational identity. “If we wish to fully realize this university mission, it must be reflected in our way of doing business at every level of the organization, up to and including our delivery of health care services,” she declared. “We will work to instill a continuous improvement and learning organization culture. Another important aspect of this initiative is to continue strengthening the Network’s ties with our university partners – the Université de Moncton and Université de Sherbrooke.”
Three major objectives are proposed, namely to:
- Integrate our university mission into our organizational identity in order to become a learning organization;
- Acquire resources to ensure the viability and sustainability of our university mission; and
- Create the Francophone University Health Sciences Network of New Brunswick.
Organizational performance – positive results
The Network announced its financial results for the first four months of the current fiscal year, i.e. for the period April 1 to July 31, 2017. The corporation recorded an operating surplus of $1.64 million as a result of expenses approximately $1.53 million under budget and income approximately $1.02 million over budget. The Network’s financial performance indicators have all reached or exceeded their targets. Furthermore, the Network reported high client satisfaction levels (greater than 85%) on its most recent inpatient experience survey related to courtesy of staff, concern for safety, language of service, and patient experience.
The next regular public meeting of the Board of Directors of Vitalité Health Network will be held on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, at 1:00 p.m., in Edmundston.
