Lack of resources not a problem at MUHC: boss
Pierre Gfeller hopes to restore trust in institution after ‘difficult days’
The newly appointed head of the McGill University Health Centre says the MUHC has enough resources to take care of all its patients, marking a clear shift in position from that of the former board of directors and some current managers.
“I do think we have the resources to treat our patients in our hospital, be it in the ER, the OR or on the wards,” Dr. Pierre Gfeller said Thursday during a half-hour interview with the Montreal Gazette at the Glen site superhospital.
“I walked the ER yesterday morning here at the Glen, the adult ER. There were lots of patients, but the building is so fantastic. It’s so huge. It didn’t feel overcrowded, even though we were already putting forward these measures to decrease the pressure.”
Gfeller, the former executive director of Sacré-Coeur Hospital in north-end Montreal, took over the reins of the MUHC on May 28, saying he hopes to restore trust and confidence in the institution after “difficult days” — an allusion to its scandal-ridden past.
That past included the fall from grace of former MUHC CEO Arthur Porter, who was accused of taking $22.5 million in bribes to influence the awarding of the $1.3-billion superhospital construction contract to a private consortium led by engineering firm SNC-Lavalin. Porter died of cancer in Panama in 2015 as he contested extradition to Quebec.
Since then, the MUHC has struggled with tens of millions of dollars in budget cuts.
Last July, all 10 independent board members resigned in protest against Health Minister Gaétan Barrette’s handling of the MUHC. Ex-board chairman Claudio Bussandri criticized the government for imposing a budget on the MUHC in 2015-2016 that “was much smaller than the previous year.”
Union leaders have estimated that the MUHC has been hit with more than $120 million in budget cuts in the past five years. Asked on Thursday if he believed the MUHC was underfunded, Gfeller responded that there is a “perception” of underfunding — a word that Barrette has often used in denying that’s the case.
“I know clearly there is a perception, and there has been a perception for many years that the MUHC was treated unfairly,” said Gfeller, a McGill-trained family physician.
“We’ll have a chance to take a look at this. In my previous experience — and I’ve worked in many, many institutions in Quebec in different regions: Laurentians, the Lanaudière, I worked in the Montérégie, Montreal — in my experience, the ministry of health treats the institutions quite fairly.”
Amy Ma, co-chair of the MUHC’s patient-rights committee, expressed concern over Gfeller’s remarks.
“Well, if there were enough resources, why would (the MUHC) then have to cut patient education, the cancer survivorship program and other things?” Ma asked.
“We are structured differently than the francophone hospitals,” Ma added, a reference to the fact that the MUHC treats patients in the far north of Quebec as well as those right up to the Ontario border.
Gfeller has already met with union leaders and visited the Montreal General and Montreal Neurological hospitals (which are part of the MUHC) in addition to his tour of the Glen site. One of his first steps was to set up his office at the Glen rather than at the MUHC’s headquarters on Décarie Blvd. near the Métropolitain Expressway.
“Well, you can’t manage a hospital from an office on Décarie Blvd., especially with the traffic,” he explained.
“You have to be on the ground. You have to walk the wards. You have to meet the people.”
Although Gfeller praised the MUHC as a “great, world-class institution,” he did note that it has some weaknesses that must be addressed, saying “I’m quite sure we could co-ordinate care better. ... I’m not sure that the continuum of care between the sectors is wellorganized.”
He disclosed that the MUHC ended its last fiscal year with a deficit, but he’s planning a balanced budget for 2018-2019.