Board of Directors approves Network’s Clinical Services Plan
Bathurst, December 18, 2015 – The Board of Directors of Vitalité Health Network unanimously approved the organization’s Clinical Services Plan – Phase 1 at a special meeting held on December 14, 2015. According to the Chairman, Paul Couturier, the Board of Directors thereby demonstrated its support of the need for a fundamental realignment of the health care system and of service organization and delivery.
An ambitious model looking to the future
The President and Chief Executive Officer of the Network, Gilles Lanteigne, affirmed that the plan represents an ambitious model for the transformation and modernization of health care. “The proposal submitted to the Department of Health in October forms the backdrop to the Clinical Services Plan that has been developed by the Network and just approved by the Board of Directors,” Mr. Lanteigne explained. “Our plan is based on the vision of a network of tiered services focused on primary health care, with a marked emphasis on ambulatory and community-based care as well as on home-based care and services.”
The Clinical Services Plan – Phase 1 essentially centres on the development of primary health care services and proposes solutions to implement two major strategies, namely:
- The expansion of alternatives to hospitalization, and
- The reduction of use of hospitalization and of length of stay.
Transformation and modernization based on the facts
The Network’s analysis indicates that between 177 and 216 beds would be “recoverable” through the implementation of various solutions. These include the introduction of better management processes, of alternatives to hospitalization, and of more timely transfers to community-based care after hospitalization. The Network is therefore maintaining the target announced last October to reduce its bed count by 99, which appears both reasonable and feasible and without major risk to the population, provided that timely, sufficient, and satisfactory investments are made in alternatives to hospitalization. Preliminary financial analyses indicate that at completion, the proposed scenario would generate annual savings of $9.8 million. Vitalité Health Network is proposing to reinvest half of this sum, or $4.7 million, in primary health care services. A summary of the Clinical Services Plan – Phase 1 is available online on the Network’s website.
Next steps
The Clinical Services Plan – Phase 1 will be submitted to the Department of Health for feedback.
Specific action plans will be developed in each of the Network’s four zones. This approach will take into account the fact that variations exist in the population’s needs from one zone to another and one community to another and in the nature of the services available both locally and regionally.
Between now and June 2016, the Network intends to develop Phase 2 of its Clinical Services Plan, which will focus on specialized and ultra-specialized services, on medical organization, and on activities and programs in the areas of research and teaching.
