After dying in a New Brunswick emergency room, Higgs announced that he had disbanded the boards of Vitalité Health Network and Horizon Health Network, the health minister would swap positions with the minister of social development, and Horizon Health’s CEO had been fired. Ecker was pleased to see Dorothy Shephard removed as health secretary, but was surprised to hear that Dr. John Dornan, CEO of Horizon, has been fired. Dorothy Shephard, former New Brunswick health minister, stepped down and is now social development minister. (Shane Magee/CBC) Higgs shirked any responsibility, Ecker said. He said there is a staffing crisis in New Brunswick and the understaffing problem will not be solved by a management shakeup. “[Higgs] mentioned people doing their vitals in the ER while they’re waiting, yes, that’s an awesome intervention to do, but if you have four nurses working in the ER and people come in with a major emergency, like, something’s got to give.” , he said. “There are only so many people. You can only do so much.” He said adding new policies and procedures will only add more stress to the front line. Nurses’ voices are not being heard, Ecker said. He hopes frontline staff are given opportunities to share their views and that the government recognizes the need for more staff. “I really think they need to work on morale,” Ecker said. “It’s like one of those circular problems where you need more staff to build morale, but you need better morale to encourage more staff.”
COVID-19 exposes flaws in the system
Higgs said during the press conference that he was “scared” to die in an ER waiting room. Ecker said it’s not a new problem and that some responsibility is attached because this situation made the news. Ecker said the health care system is on “thin ice.” “Covid just shined a flashlight on an issue that was in the dark and it’s just bringing all these cracks to light now,” he said. “It could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.” Ecker said Horizon staff received a notice earlier in the week asking staff to wear masks in public and lead by example. She believes Dornan saw that having a healthy staff would have an immediate impact for the good of the health care system.
Dissolving boards
Ecker called the dissolution of health authority boards a “unilateral power grab.” He said he believes any voice that represented a larger group of people is gone. Norma McGraw, a former Vitalité Health Network board member, said she wasn’t overly surprised by the decision. Norma McGraw, a former Vitalité Health Network board member, said she wasn’t overly surprised by the decision to leave the boards. (CBC) “Something was expected [would] Higgs also happens [would] finally act on the pressures coming his way to improve the health care system,” he said. He said he didn’t hear about the decision to disband the boards until the announcement had already been made. Johanne Lise Landry, representative of the Vitalité Health Network, confirmed in email Friday that the health network did not receive any correspondence to recall its board of directors. McGraw said she would like to know what the board did that did not meet the premier’s standards. He said Vitalité should self-manage its health network. He said removing the board of directors to replace it with a single appointed administrator would reduce the influence the community has on Vitalité Health Network. But he said he’s hopeful the trustee-designate will be able to make changes. “Everybody wants the system to improve and if that’s what it takes to get the result, I wish Mr. Higgs the best,” McGraw said.
What’s next?
Paula Doucet, president of the New Brunswick Nurses Association, said she was called to a brief meeting at 2:15 p.m. Friday where she learned of the announcement. She was surprised that health authority boards were to be placed under guardianship and was disappointed by Dornan’s removal. Dr John Dornan, former president and CEO of Horizon Health Network, has been fired. (Ed Hunter/CBC) “I felt like he really understood the issues on the front line and the issues that nurses were raising,” she said. But he said systemic changes need to happen so frontline staff feel supported. “We were in a pre-pandemic shortage and then, you know, two and a half years, almost three years into this pandemic, the staff, the retired nurses, the health care providers, you know, all of our health care partners, they’re exhausted.” . He said the decisions announced Friday are a start. But he plans to contact the new health secretary, Bruce Fitch, the prime minister and others to figure out where to go next. Paula Doucet, president of the New Brunswick Nurses Association, said systemic changes are needed so frontline staff feel heard and supported. (Ed Hunter) The New Brunswick Medical Society released a statement yesterday supporting the change in government leadership. The statement said the society looks forward to meeting with the health minister to discuss how the government will address the priorities set out in the provincial health plan. The statement also thanked Dornan for his service as Horizon’s CEO, saying he “has done an admirable job leading Horizon under incredibly difficult circumstances.” Ecker said he feels the Higgs is not looking at the root cause. “It’s not going to be fixed by just shuffling the deck. We really need intentional, purposeful, meaningful change, not just more red tape,” he said. “I know [Higgs] talked a lot about removing barriers and red tape yesterday. But I have a feeling the emperor just has a new pair of clothes.”
