Patient advocates criticize search for new head of MUHC
Users’ Committee says it has been left out of process; health centre denies that
Health Minister Gaétan Barrette is expected to announce any day now the new head of the embattled McGill University Health Centre following a selection process that critics charge has been shrouded in secrecy.
The MUHC has lurched from crisis to crisis without a permanent executive director since September 2016, when Normand Rinfret resigned amid rising tensions with Barrette.
The hiring process was interrupted twice — first in October 2016 when Barrette decided to consider proposals to merge the MUHC with other health organizations, and then last July after all 10 independent members of the MUHC board resigned in protest against the minister’s budget cuts to the public hospital network.
Since then, the Central Users’ Committee of the MUHC — which represents patients and their families — says it has tried repeatedly to take part in the selection and hiring of the new executive director.
“I think it was another missed golden opportunity to walk the talk in terms of patient engagement,” Amy Ma, co-chair of the users’ committee, told the Montreal Gazette on Friday.
“There are a lot of other Canadian hospitals where, when they are going to search for a new hospital CEO, someone from the patient advisory board is there front and centre drafting the job description, going over the CVs and being part of the interview process.”
However, in an email late Friday night, Gilda Salomone, a spokesperson for the MUHC, said the users’ committee was indeed included in the process of selecting a new MUHC executive director.
“As part of the selection process, Dr. Sarah Pritchard, a member of the MUHC Board of Directors, consulted stakeholders — including the MUHC Users’ Committee — and relayed the conclusions of her consultation to the Board of Directors,” Salomone said.
Among the concerns that have been raised about the new CEO is whether he or she will be able to stand up to Barrette in the interests of the MUHC and its patients. Union officials have criticized the government for imposing more than $120 million in budget cuts to the MUHC over the past five years.
Peter Kruyt, chair of the MUHC board, was out of the country and not available for comment. Although Kruyt has pledged that patients would be consulted, he said that it wasn’t necessary for patient reps to sit on the selection committee.
In a Jan. 12 statement to the MUHC community, Kruyt outlined the hiring process in broad strokes, suggesting that potential candidates from abroad might be contacted. “The goal is to introduce the new president and executive director of the MUHC to our community this spring,” Kruyt said in the statement.
He noted that Boyden Canada, “an executive firm with global reach,” would help identify qualified candidates. Jean Philip Holliday, a research analyst at Boyden, did not respond to emailed queries on Friday.
The Gazette reported in November that a Quebec-trained medical superstar in the United States had been courted months earlier to lead the MUHC. Kruyt would not comment on the possible candidacy of Dr. Claude Deschamps, head of the non-profit University of Vermont Medical Centre.
The Gazette has since learned at least three senior Montreal hospital administrators are also in the running. Ultimately, the MUHC board must submit two names to the minister for his final approval.
Catherine W. Audet, Barrette’s press attaché, said in an email on Friday that the “process under the law is following its course. The new president and executive director will be announced at the (proper) time and place.”
MUHC spokesperson Salomone confirmed in a statement that the goal is still to announce the new executive director this spring.
“As the recruitment and selection process continues, it will remain confidential so as to ensure a fair and effective review of all applicants while not compromising their current employment. The board is confident the final selection and official government appointment will be made as soon as possible.”
Martine Alfonso, who once headed the Montreal Children’s Hospital, has been serving as interim director of the MUHC.