Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance Starts Process to Amalgamate

by Bob Montgomery

Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance C-E-O Andrew Williams says they have started the process to formally amalgamate the hospitals in Clinton, Seaforth, Stratford and St. Marys. 

Williams points out the hospitals have had a voluntary alliance that has worked very well for over twenty years that included a single board for all of the hospitals and a single employer for all of the staff. Williams says the decision to go to a more formal amalgamation came from the introduction of Provincial legislation, the Not for Profit Corportion's Act, that requires them to upgrade their twenty-year-old agreement significantly. Williams says they looked at several options and decided a formal amalgamation was the right decision for their corporation and allow people to continue to expect the level of care they've getting throughout Huron and Perth.

Williams adds the formal amalgamation won't result in any significant changes for the public. He says the governance will stay the same, they're already one workforce and the significant changes were made when they were originally amalgamated twenty years ago and he says most people thought they were already amalgamated so any changes will be minimal. He adds, that means that the foundations of each of the four hospitals remain independent and money they raise for things like equipment will continue to remain with those hospitals and their boards will continue to decide where those funds go.