MUHC patients group feels shut out of selection process for new president
Hospital network says process is confidential, won’t disclose candidates
Patients of the McGill University Health Centre want to be consulted before a new president for the hospital network is chosen.
A committee representing MUHC patients and their families say that, as users of the hospitals, they deserve to have a say in the selection process.
"They are going to necessarily have a material impact on how you and I interact when we go in and out of any part of the MUHC," said Amy Ma, co-chair of the patients' committee.
"It makes sense to have that voice at the table."
Current president and executive director Normand Rinfret retires on September 2, but the MUHC will not disclose which candidates are in the running to replace him.
The MUHC's board of directors will draw up a list of candidates for the position, but the provincial government will make the final decision.
Ma said the patients' committee reached out to MUHC officials last month to secure a seat at the table during interviews and discussions.
She said they got word a few days ago that the process had already begun without them.
Selection process already underway
The exclusion is particularly upsetting in the current climate of budget cuts to health care, Ma explained.
"I just hope that whoever is in place will be there to defend what's in the best interests of the patients and the families, regardless of the budget cuts," she said.
Ma thinks the lack of communication with the patients' committee goes against the MUHC's goals to increase patient engagement.
"Right now, the MUHC is embarking along this whole vein of patient partnership," she said. "This would have been a great opportunity for them to put their money where their mouth is."
The MUHC, however, disputed Ma's claim that patients have no say in the process.
"Within the Board of Directors there is a representative from the users' committee," spokeswoman Patricia Vasquez told CBC News in an email.
"Therefore, the MUHC has not shut them down from the selection process."
Ma, however, says the board of directors and the selection committee are different entities serving different functions.