West Grey is planning on bringing its concerns on rural healthcare to the upcoming Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.
Council approved submitting a delegation to the AMO for rural hospitals and healthcare, as well as infrastructure funding during a meeting on May 21.
Mayor Kevin Eccles suggested this delegation be made to the Ministry of Health as well as to the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery during the conference, which is set for Aug. 18 to the 21 in Ottawa.
“Well certainly what it is, is to the fact of what oversight there is on rogue, what we consider to be rogue boards out there, these local boards that are off making absurd motions and decisions,” says Eccles.
He says he aims to talk about the fight for rural healthcare and for the Durham Hospital as well as how rural healthcare can be better and more effectively delivered compared to urban areas.
“I am hopeful that when we get there, that this is going to be how rural healthcare is being delivered at our hospital in Durham moving forward and how it will continue to be delivered,” says Eccles.
This comes after the South Bruce Grey Health Centre announced that as of June 3, all 10 inpatient beds in Durham would be moved to the hospitals in Kincardine and Walkerton. The Durham Hospital would be reduced to an urgent and emergent care centre, operating from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
A group of people from Grey Bruce recently took a bus down to the Provincial Legislature in Toronto to voice their opposition to service changes at the hospital.