Bruce Fitch is now health secretary, switching positions with Dorothy Shephard, who is moving from health to social development, Higgs announced during a press conference Friday afternoon. Higgs also announced that Horizon Health Network CEO John Dornan has been relieved of his role and replaced on an interim basis by Margaret Melanson, the network’s vice president of clinical services. In addition, Higgs said he removed the boards of both Horizon and Vitalité health networks and installed an administrator for each. WATCHES | ‘Starting at the Top:’ Higgs Analyzes Changes in Healthcare Leadership
Higgs says he was “scared” to hear about a death in the ER waiting room
The prime minister announced on Friday that he was firing Horizon’s chief executive and replacing him with his health minister. “We have a plan,” Higgs said. “It has to be implemented. The situation we are in today is the result of many, many years of successive governments refusing to deal with emergencies.” The renewal of leadership in New Brunswick’s health care sector comes after a patient died in the emergency department waiting room at Regional Hospital Dr. Everett Chalmers early Tuesday morning while awaiting care. Witness John Staples said the man, an elderly man, had been waiting alone in a wheelchair in visible distress for hours when he appeared to have fallen asleep. It was only during a routine people check in the waiting room that a hospital employee realized the man had stopped breathing, he said.
He ordered an inquest into the death
Higgs said he was “horrified” when he heard a patient had died while waiting to be seen in an emergency department. He said he has asked Horizon Health Network to conduct an investigation into what happened and that if he is not satisfied with the results, he will seek an external review. John Staples said watching a patient die in the ER waiting room at Dr. Everett Chalmers, on the verge of receiving care, it was a “grim and grim realization” that New Brunswick’s health care system is “so woefully broken.” (Joe McDonald/CBC) “I have no doubt that every New Brunswicker is saddened and concerned about this story. We all want to know that if we go to the hospital we will get the help we need.” In response to questions from reporters, Higgs said he hoped the investigation would reveal whether standards of care were not being met at the hospital when the patient died in the waiting room. But he was quick to note that he doesn’t believe there are any mistakes in frontline health workers. “I don’t believe this has anything to do with — and I’m just stating an opinion here — anything to do with the nurses on shift or the people on shift. “I think it’s a management thing. I think there’s a lack of coordination of activity, and that’s what I’m trying to drive home here. If we don’t have better management outcomes in our hospitals, we’re not going to have better health care.”
Change of ministers
Higgs praised Sheppard’s work during the pandemic and her role in pushing a new health care plan for the province. However, he said, Fitch will take a “fresh look” at how the department measures performance and where shortfalls lie in health care. Dorothy Shephard was moved from health secretary to social development minister, while Bruce Fitch moved from social development to the role of health minister. (CBC) “In the case of Bruce being involved, sometimes a change is, some might say, better than a rest,” Higgs said. “Bruce is an experienced person within government … he will work with people anywhere, as Dorothy was, but taking a fresh look at, OK, how do we measure performance? How do we deliver results? Where have we not delivered and followed through on commitments?” what happened and what were the root causes?”
Revocation of health authority councils
In place of the boards for the two health authorities, Higgs said his government has appointed trustees Suzanne Johnston and Gerald Richard for Horizon and Vitalité, respectively. “We are fortunate to have two outstanding and experienced individuals coming out of retirement to help guide us through these challenging times. Health network boards include members elected by the public and members appointed by the government. Higgs said the two councils were called off to speed up changes at the two health authorities. “We’re taking a crisis management approach here to allow decisions to be made, allow the right people to be consulted immediately and get on with it. “So we’re removing this situation of a bureaucratic gridlock … and this is not intended to be permanent, but it is intended to have results. And right now I need to see results and I want to remove barriers and obstacles for us health professionals to succeed”. Higgs said he did not have a timeline for when he expects results from the two administrators and was vague about their goals. “There’s going to be some goals that we’re going to put out there that we want to hit first. So I can’t put a timeline on that, but I want to be clear about what the results should be.”
“Major step backwards,” says Horizon’s deposed chair
Higgs’ announcement was met with swift criticism from Jeff McAloon, Horizon’s board chairman until Friday. “I am disappointed and dismayed by Prime Minister Higgs’ unilateral decision to remove Dr. John Dornan as CEO of Horizon Health Network,” McAloon said in an emailed statement. “I am confident in Dr. Dornan’s experience and ability to affect real and positive change in the provincial health system.” During the press conference, Higgs sidestepped a question about what Dornan failed to do in his role as CEO. “I think what I’m demonstrating here is the need to create an impetus in relation to frontline workers in the case of Margaret Melanson and her role in clinical services and you know how we can direct that to hospitals,” he said. “I think every hospital needs to have a director of clinical services who is really that gatekeeper of who’s coming in? Who’s coming out? What time is it in? How quickly are we managing that? And we need to start grounding with that. Dr. John Dornan has been fired as CEO of Horizon Health Network after being officially appointed to the position just four months ago. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) McAloon called Higgs’ move a centralization of health care control. “For me, and for the partially elected, local council I led, today’s announcement is a significant step backwards,” he said. “It represents a loss of community ownership and engagement and clinical, leadership expertise. “Concentrating control in the prime minister’s office is not the solution. Politics is what got us here and it’s not the solution.” McAloon said he had not heard from Higgs and only learned of his decision moments before the press conference began. “I agree with all New Brunswickers in their feelings of shock and want nothing more than to see our system stabilized.” Johanne Lise Landry, a spokeswoman for Vitalité Health Network, said in an email that the health network has not received any correspondence regarding the recall of its board of directors. There was also a reaction from the medical community itself. “The firing of Dr. John Dornan should go down as one of the most misguided, stupid, and ill-advised decisions I’ve ever heard,” cardiologist Dr. Robert Tesky tweeted.
Opposition reaction
Interim Liberal leader Roger Melanson questioned why it was taking so long for Higgs to do something about problems in the health care system. He said the premier has been in office for four years and needs to explain to New Brunswickers what his new plan is and why he thinks it will work. But Melanson worries that attracting new doctors won’t be high on the province’s agenda. “We need health care workers to be able to provide these services, and they still haven’t even mentioned that today at this press conference,” Melanson said. Green Party health critic Megan Mitton said successive Liberal and PC governments have contributed to the state of the province’s health care system. He worries about the abandonment of partially elected health boards, a move he says is antithetical to democracy. “We shouldn’t be seeing more centralization of the health care system,” Mitton said. “We should go the other way and have more decision-making and power and resources at the local level.” Melanson said he would like to see the Legislature recalled to address the issue, something Mitton said she would support.
