The Board of Directors for Grey Bruce Health Services held their Annual General Meeting on July 22 and announced the new slate of Board Officers.

Paul Sinclair, who has been a Board member for the past three years, is now Chair of the Board, taking over from Brenda Kearney, who served as Chair for a two-year term. Jo Flewwelling will assume the role of Vice-Chair. Dr. George Saab, a GBHS radiologist, has been appointed as the Medical Staff President (Urban) and joins his colleague, family physician Dr. Meghan Grigg, who took on the role of Medical Staff President (Rural), earlier this year. Dr. Saab took over his role from GBHS surgeon Dr. Neil Lamont.

“We have an excellent roster of Board Officers with a broad range of skills and experience in healthcare, governance, and finance,” said Gary Sims, President, and CEO of GBHS. “I look forward to working with our Board to grow the Corporation’s presence as a regional provider of quality health care.”

The Board was reminded that in addition to the focus and work that has been spent on COVID-19 in the past several months, GBHS had many achievements to celebrate from the past fiscal year (ended March 31, 2020).

Highlights of the organization’s successes were presented to the Board at the AGM.

Grey Bruce Health Services ended the year on a healthy financial note.

A report at the AGM shows the corporation ended the fiscal year in a balanced financial position, with a surplus of $1.7 million (just under 1% of the overall budget).

GBHS received a funding increase of $8,492,000 for the current fiscal year from the Ministry of Health in June.

$6.2M of that was provided last year as one-time funds, and have now been added to the Corporation’s annual base budget.

The remaining $2.3M represents a funding top-up of about 1% of the base budget.

Grey Bruce Health Services is working to meet future staffing needs.

Approximately 45% of GBHS nursing staff will be eligible for retirement within the next five years. To ensure sustainable staffing in the six hospitals, The corporation is focusing on supporting current staff to develop specialized skills and move into difficult-to-fill positions.

The program has resulted in a current internal promotion rate of 65%.

Meantime, ten new physicians have started practicing at GBHS hospitals since April 2019. These include six family physicians and four specialists (Cardiology, Ophthalmology, Critical Care, Psychiatry).

All GBHS Emergency Departments are fully staffed after a challenging summer in 2019.

The Five Foundations that support GBHS met their goal of raising $4.7 M for a new MRI. The equipment will arrive in August and will be in operation by September 2020.

GBHS is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Health on its Stage 4.1 submission, and once approved, documents will be prepared to issue a call for tenders to construct a new hospital in Markdale. GBHS remains optimistic that site preparations will begin by the end of this year.