What can we learn from Brampton?

Do we wish to replicate Brampton's disastrous revamped healthcare system in Windsor Essex?

Windsor Regional Hospital planners like to cite Brampton as an example of what we may anticipate in Windsor if our single site acute care hospital is built. Yet Brampton's twelve-year old "mega-hospital" is ground zero for some of Ontario's highest hallway healthcare rates. Their acute care hospital and urgent care centre (UCC) are chronically over capacity despite the city's proximity to other GTA-area hospitals. Why do we want to replicate this flawed model? This is what happened:

In 2007, Brampton replaced its aging downtown hospital with a new facility, Brampton Civic Hospital, nearly 9 km to its north.  Supervisor appointed just 6 weeks after opening: Right after the new hospital opened, Bramptonians raised concerns about excessively long wait times that were leading to health complications and even deaths. Three top executives suddenly resigned: A month after Ken White, the supervisor, started his investigation, he told The Toronto Star to expect more voluntary staff departures, as well as dismissals at all managerial levels over the next couple of months. Massive cost escalations: Ontario's Auditor General subsequently reported that the $614-million hospital cost taxpayers $394-million too much due to cost escalations and the way it was financed via Ontario's preferred P3 model.

Peel Memorial Urgent Care: Is this a gold standard for Windsor-Essex?

...or a UCC cautionary tale? Ten years later, in response to Brampton's ongoing hospital capacity problems, a brand new $451M UCC opened in 2017 on the downtown site of the original Peel Memorial Hospital. In its first year of operation, it already exceeded its intended capacity: The City of Brampton is now demanding approval for the second phase of the downtown Peel Memorial facility, in order to expand the UCC into a full acute care hospital. Officials are also asking for a third acute care hospital for the community. No provincial government funding approval: In a motion in the Provincial Legislature on October 16, 2018, the request for a new hospital failed to carry. This has left the community stuck with their inadequate UCC and single site hospital. Reduced UCC hours: Effective August 7, 2019, the UCC must register its last patient by 9 p.m. This one hour daily reduction in hours of operation forces more patients seeking medical care to travel to the acute care hospital.

About Brampton's UCC The only medical care available in downtown Brampton today is for "less serious" conditions. As we discussed in our August 4, 2019 eblast, life-threatening conditions require Emergency Department (ED) treatment. Currently Brampton residents with serious conditions are directed to the ED of Brampton Civic Hospital almost 9 km to the north of where the UCC is located. (Patients do have the option of going to Etobicoke General Hospital instead, 17-28 km east of Brampton, depending on the route taken). These instructions, on the Brampton UCC's website, couldn't be any clearer:

If urgent care was such a good idea in downtown Brampton, why do they now need to expand the facility into a full acute care hospital? Where did their planning go wrong? Brampton's ten-year old hospital has "aged beyond its years" Chronic underfunding, a shortage of beds, and a quickly aging hospital are stretching Brampton's health care infrastructure capacity to its limits. "It’s only 10 years old and it’s been seeing volumes that have aged it beyond its years," said Dr. Brendan Carr, President and CEO of the William Osler Health System on Feb. 28, 2018. How could they possibly have missed the warning signs? When they began planning their new hospital over two decades ago, Brampton, like other GTA communities, surely were aware they had a rapidly expanding population. Here in Windsor-Essex, though our total population growth is slower, we need to plan realistically for a known major demographic shift. Our community is rapidly aging. Did Brampton use the wrong data, or did they overlook reality? What can we learn from their mistakes?

We only have one shot at this! We need a new plan that gets our future healthcare needs right One might assume, the last thing Windsor-Essex officials wish to replicate is Brampton's long-term healthcare delivery snafu. We're also quite certain our provincial government is looking for a value-for-money investment. What we need is a cost-effective solution that provides our aging population with equitable and timely access to appropriate medical treatment. As residents and taxpayers, we have every right to demand our new single site hospital will be adequate for more than a decade. We can't afford to get it wrong. Let Brampton's healthcare infrastructure miscalculations be a lesson to us. Fixing mistakes after the fact is always more expensive. If Brampton got its planning so wrong, why are WRH officials using that city's new yet failing healthcare system as an example of what Windsor-Essex residents might expect? We don't have a backup plan. We'll be paying with our taxes and our lives for generations to come. In their own words: Weekly round-up of comments from our friends and neighbours "We need modern, accessible care near the city centre; we need re-development near the city centre; we need an urban plan that works for the entire region and respects the legacy of the city of Windsor, where most of the population lives and works. This plan is not sustainable, it is destructive and short sighted." "Keep one in the core and put one in the county. That way the county can pick up 100% of the infrastructure costs of the one outside the city instead of the city being forced to pay 100% for one on the very outskirts." "Chatham and Wallaceburg both have hospitals with ED's...hell, even Wiarton has one with a population of 2,200 (50,000 during tourist season)" "Whether you are for this location or against it, the appeal process is a fair and natural part of the process. Let them have their appeal. I would be more upset if we had a group wanting to appeal and being told they can't. It is their right." "I'm not a fan of the fact that the city is on the hook for all infrastructure costs of a hospital that has to service the entire region." "Let's stop with the "just build it" nonsense and let's get a proper accounting of all the impacts." "The new hospital is a long distance from the core of the city." "How exactly do you justify closing the two existing emergency rooms that are currently accessible to the largest concentration of the poorest and most disadvantaged residents of Windsor Essex County to make a *SLIGHTLY* shorter drive for ONLY SOME members of the county?" "I'd love to live in the county, but I don't, because I know it wouldn't be practical due to my priorities of needing affordable housing on a transit route, work on a transit route, and easy access to a hospital. Quite frankly, I made my decision of where to live based on my needs, as have the majority of Windsor Essex residents who are vulnerable. That choice: Windsor." "it's not a mega hospital, they're only calling it that yo get your support." "Metropolitan REGIONAL Hospital is in the center of the CITY and is very accessible to people needing public transportation. There is ABSOLUTELY no sense putting it on 42."