Vitalité Health Network's proposal to cut beds draws Tory questions

The Vitalité Health Network's proposal to close 99 hospital beds came under the political microscope Wednesday at the New Brunswick Legislature.

Gilles Lanteigne, the chief executive officer of the Vitalité Health Network, was appearing before a hearing of the Crown corporations committee.

Progressive Conservative MLA Madeleine Dubé suggested the regional health authority is planning the cuts now because of cost-cutting pressure from the Liberal government of Premier Brian Gallant.

But Lanteigne said the move is the logical culmination of the RHA's efficiency drive, which has made the beds unnecessary.

After having Lanteigne confirm that there were no bed cuts, ER closures or hospital closures in the three fiscal years the committee was studying, Dubé asked him, "What has changed to bring about this proposal to the government to cut beds?"

Lanteigne said Vitalité's hospitalization rate is down.

But he also said the RHA is trying to steer people who don't need to be admitted to hospitals toward other forms of care.

Many in hospital who don't need to be

"There are many people who are in hospitals who don't need to be in hospitals," Lanteigne said.

"The evidence shows those people are not in the right place at the right time."

He cited the example of someone admitted to a hospital on a Friday who can't get a diagnostic test until a Monday. Rather than keep that person in the hospital over the weekend, Vitalité wants to find a way to get the test done on the Friday.

"There are a lot of efficiencies we can achieve to avoid hospitalization, to avoid long-term care."

Vitalité hopes to eliminate the 99 beds over the next 18 months. Lanteigne told reporters the proposal was not due to a request from the province.

He told reporters there's been no official response from the Gallant government, but said the reception has been "quite good in the community."

"I think the government will receive this proposal very, very positively because it's the right direction for the community."

Doesn't buy Vitalité's answer

Dubé told reporters she doesn't buy that the RHA has come up with this idea on its own.

"What I'm reading between the lines is the government asked them, basically, to revamp," she said.

She disagrees that now is the time to close beds, pointing to a brand-new, $50 million nursing home in her riding that can't open because of a dispute over the number of doctors needed to be on call for the facility.

"There's been a lot of progress" on finding efficiencies in the system "but God knows we've got a lot of work to do," she told the committee.

Liberal MLAs blocked Dubé's attempts to talk at length against the cuts, saying the committee's mandate is limited to examining the last three fiscal years.

Lanteigne says the RHA plans to divert half of the money it saves from closing beds towards better primary and preventative care.