Removing surgery will effectively close Grimsby hospital, leader says

Emergency, ICU and beds will shut down with no surgery warns site lead

GRIMSBY — West Lincoln Memorial Hospital would likely have to close its emergency department, intensive care unit and acute care beds if surgery is relocated to Hamilton for more than two years during building upgrades, warns the interim medical director.

“This proposal is effectively a closure of West Lincoln Memorial Hospital,” Dr. Matthew Noble Wohlgemut states in a letter Friday to the Hamilton Health Sciences board and CEO Rob MacIsaac.

He says without surgery, West Lincoln can’t maintain the roster of anesthetists it needs in Grimsby to support the rest of the hospital.

“I do not see how we could run a hospital,” Noble Wohlgemut told The Spectator calling it a domino effect.

HHS has maintained that the ED and in-patient beds will remain open during the $8.6 million renovation estimated to take 27 months.

There is no firm start date yet and the project’s value was questioned even by the third-party firm brought in to determine what it will take to bring surgical facilities up to

“Very quickly what is just one piece of those services turns into a domino effect that would then have the result of shutting down the hospital.” DR. MATTHEW NOBLE WOHLGEMUT

current standards.

“The WLMH renovations are technically possible, however they require a significant expense and will have a major impact on service delivery during construction,” concludes the executive summary of the Oct 5 report by WalterFedy.

“Much of this work is being performed on a building approaching end of life as an acute care hospital. Current spaces do not meet contemporary standards, infrastructure is failing and heroic measures are required to renovate small portions of the building. It is important to note that this report does not contemplate the unknown impacts of construction that may result in significant additional cost ... HHS should assess if this is the best use of scarce capital funds.”

HHS has a plan before the Ministry of Health that has been endorsed by the Local Health Integration Network to completely redevelop West Lincoln including a day surgery centre.

“We have been pushing for a rebuild,” said Dr. Wes Stephen, executive vice president, clinical operations and chief operating officer.

“The decision of the timing of the project and the funding of the project is the province. We have been advocating.”

In the meantime, “The challenge for us is we have to keep safe care in an aging building.”

The first concern was endoscopy services which moved from Grimsby to MUMC in May because the facilities no longer met standards for safe and quality medical care. Similar worries were raised about the operating rooms and surgical equipment storage.

“If we do nothing, and fail to meet medical safety standards in our facility, the impact will be much worse,” MacIsaac said in a statement addressed to colleagues Oct. 24. “We may hurt people and be forced to close these services immediately.”

Noble Wohlgemut disputes the immediate danger. He took over the job of medical director and site lead when Dr. Gary Benson resigned after learning about the potential relocation plan Oct 17. Grimsby doctors say they were not consulted and haven’t seen the full WalterFedy report.

“West Lincoln Memorial Hospital is an extremely safe facility and we are providing high quality care,” said Noble Wohlgemut. “There has been no issues whatsoever about active patient safety concerns at the hospital.”

He says it’s unrealistic to expect surgery and obstetrics to easily return to Grimsby after more than two years.

“Once these services and programs disappear it will not be a matter of just pulling them out of the closet and getting them going again,” he said. Doctors and midwives, “if they are off that program for 27 months they will either stop delivering or they will move to another community where they can practice their full scope of care.”

The impact could be far beyond the hospital with repercussions to prenatal care, primary care and the community’s ability to retain and recruit physicians, says Noble Wohlgemut

“We need to figure out an interim solution that is going to address those infrastructure problems in a way that doesn’t need to relocate services,” he said. “We absolutely need the rebuild that the community so desperately wants. We need that now.”

HHS did not provide a figure for how much it would cost to rebuild West Lincoln but Stephen pointed it took nearly $500 million to redevelop Burlington’s Joseph Brant Hospital with the province footing $353.6 million of the bill.

“The message we hear from the Conservative government is they are on a mission to cut,” said NDP leader and Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath. “I don’t hold up a lot of hope that this Conservative government has any interest whatsoever in hospital expansion.”

She points to the three university satellite campuses that had their funding cancelled Tuesday by the Conservatives citing budget troubles. At the very least, she called on the government “to make sure that hospital doesn’t close it’s doors forever.”

“It’s the death knell for the hospital,” she said about the services relocating.

Minister of Health Christine Elliott provided no information Friday about the status of the plan to rebuild the hospital.

“She is aware and concerned about the situation at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital and will continue to work with Hamilton Health Sciences to ensure the needs of the community are met and patient safety is maintained,” spokesperson Hayley Chazan said in a statement

MPP for Niagara West Sam Oosterhoff says he’s fighting for West Lincoln’s redevelopment and doesn’t support the temporary relocation of the hospital services.

“I think it’s going to be detrimental to the community if that occurs,” he said. “This is the result of 15 years of neglect and abandonment of West Lincoln Memorial Hospital and the community deserves better.”