Community group asks for control of Charlotte County Hospital to be returned to local board

The Concerned Citizens of Charlotte County are asking the Gallant government to allow the Charlotte County Hospital to be run under an independent local board of directors. This comes after some continue to question the long-term future of the facility.

Earlier this year, the Horizon Health Network announced the hospital’s operating room would be closing. Premier Brian Gallant told a New Brunswick Day crowd in St. Stephen that the government wanted to work with the community to find the appropriate staff to keep the ER open.

READ MORE: N.B. government will work to keep Charlotte County Hospital OR open: premier

The citizens group met with Horizon Health and government officials last Friday, which was followed by a town hall meeting on the weekend. Trudy Higgins of Concerned Citizens of Charlotte County said she felt there was a suggestion that the OR could be enhanced and allow surgeons to bring in patients from other cities like Saint John.

“They could come here,” Higgins said. “The surgeon would get an extra day or two to do operations and that would clear the backlog which has to be much better for patients.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They could come here," Higgins said. "The surgeon would get an extra day or two to do operations and that would clear the backlog which has to be much better for patients."

Herein lies the confusion. On Friday, Horizon Health issued a statement saying “services at the Charlotte County Hospital will continue as usual” and that “everything currently in place will continue to operate as it does today.”

A follow up statement clarified the situation saying Friday’s news release “was misinterpreted by some readers as indicating a return of general anesthetic surgery. Those procedures will not be carried out at Charlotte County Hospital.”

Currently, the hospital is performing surgeries requiring local anesthesia.

Now the citizens group says the hospital, under local control, could operate much more efficiently.

“This community had a very well run hospital with happy staff with a surplus in the bank when the government decided to go to regionalization,” Higgins said.

Health Minister Victor Boudreau said he doesn’t see that happening.

“I think that would be taking a step back in the way our hospitals were governed in the past,” Boudreau said.

He said most surgical procedures have returned.

“We’ve been able to re-establish 86 per cent of the services that were provided in the OR at the Charlotte County Hospital.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've been able to re-establish 86 per cent of the services that were provided in the OR at the Charlotte County Hospital."

Clearly this is an impasse that is showing no signs of easing up.