Learn hospital lessons from others

When Brampton's aging downtown hospital was replaced in 2007 with a P3-funded mega-facility 10km away, an urgent care centre was built to serve the city's urban population.

Over budget and understaffed, the hospital opened with half the beds it really needed. Dangerous capacity issues have plagued it ever since.

At the time, the government claimed there was insufficient demand for more beds. In reality, operating at full capacity was simply not possible.

Brampton has been pushing hard for the second hospital that was promised on the site of the previous one, even before the mega-hospital was built. The mayor, Patrick Brown, said: “Brampton has one hospital, Brampton Civic Hospital, while the Peel Memorial Centre has an urgent care clinic that is open 13 hours a day. It is not a second hospital.”

It takes very little digging to learn about Brampton's ongoing health-care problems. And yet, we're told to look at their model for what we can expect in Windsor-essex — as if it were a good thing. It's not.

Windsor-essex has an aging population with increasing health-care needs. Hospital staffing is at critical levels today.

Just like in Brampton, urgent care is no replacement for an acute care hospital. What has been presented to date does not address the concerns CAMPP and other advocates for accessible health care have been bringing to decision-makers' attention over the past eight years.

There is still time to prevent a mistake in Windsor-essex. We can learn from Brampton.

Let's start by putting to rest the myth that a shiny new building in a bean field where nobody resides today will attract the staff and programs needed to serve our future needs.

Philippa von Ziegenweidt, Windsor Spokeswoman Citizens for an Accountable Mega-hospital Planning Process