News Release
In-patient Oncology and Palliative Care to move to St. Catharines General Site by September 8
- Date of Issue: Thursday, July 17, 2003
- Français
New roles underway for Hotel Dieu and St. Catharines General Site of NHS
St. Catharines , ON - The first stage of realizing the new roles in the delivery of patient services between the Niagara Health System and the Hotel Dieu Health Sciences Hospital is underway with the transfer of in-patient oncology and palliative care services from the Hotel Dieu to the St. Catharines General Site of the Niagara Health System as of September 8,2003.
The unique and complimentary roles for the Hotel Dieu and NHS's St. Catharines General site were defined as part of the December 2002 agreement between the two hospital corporations and the HSRC directions for Niagara. Hotel Dieu will ultimately specialize in Out-Patient Care as well as Acute and Long-Term Mental Health and the Niagara Health System, St. Catharines General Site, will specialize in Acute and In-Patient Care.
The 31 in-patient beds serving oncology and palliative care patients currently located on the third floor of Hotel Dieu will be moved to the St. Catharines General site's second floor of the Moore McSloy Wing, the area that previously housed Complex Continuing Care.
"We were on track to see this transfer take place in April. However with the onset of SARS all transfer activities were suspended and our in-patient oncology and palliative care transfer had to be delayed," explains Mr. Frank Bagatto, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Hotel Dieu. "Through this same time our hospitals have also been working on the co-location proposal to build a single health care campus comprising one in-patient hospital and a state-of-the-art ambulatory care centre for St. Catharines, Thorold and immediate area as well as a regional cancer centre."
Hospital employees, including nurses and physicians were directly involved in developing the plans for the transfer. "The people working on the transfer plan did a tremendous amount of work inventorying services and equipment and assessing the impact of the move on our patients and their families, employees, doctors and volunteers who will be affected by the change. Our primary goal is to ensure that the transfer runs as smooth as possible and we need to thank and acknowledge everyone who has contributed so far to this initiative," said Mr. Bagatto.
The Hotel Dieu and Niagara Health System along with the Minister of Health and Long Term Care's Investigator Mr. Dennis Timbrell and his team are diligently working through the details of the co-location business plan that will be provided to the Ministry of Health by September 19, 2003.
Debbie Sevenpifer, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Niagara Health System explains that the decision to proceed with the transfer of in-patient oncology and palliative care to the St. Catharines General site fits with the co-location business plan.
"The staff, doctors and volunteers in Hotel Dieu's oncology and palliative care programs have created a legacy of compassionate, quality health care. Our aim as the Niagara Health System is to continue to provide exceptional service to oncology and palliative care patients and their families and to build on the strengths and successes of this exceptional program," said Mrs. Sevenpifer.