Pinecrest-Queensway Neighborhood Well being Centre changing CEO McIntosh

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The Chief Government Officer of Pinecrest-Queensway Neighborhood Well being Centre is not with the group, in line with a memo from the neighborhood well being centre’s board.

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Within the word despatched to workers Tuesday, board chair Janet Bowes mentioned Christopher McIntosh is “transferring on” and that it’s time for a change within the function. 

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“Christopher (McIntosh) has led PQCHC by way of the pandemic. Throughout his tenure as CEO, he has demonstrated ardour, dedication and dedication to PQCHC and its purchasers,” Bowes wrote within the memo.

Pinecrest-Queensway, certainly one of six neighborhood well being centres in Ottawa, has been the main focus of rising concern in latest months, a lot of it centered on administration selections and magnificence.

Bowes added that the board and McIntosh have “labored tirelessly to handle latest considerations which have garnered a lot media consideration over the previous a number of months. Nonetheless, the board has determined that it’s time for a change of management.”

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Michele Hynes, who had been director of household and youngsters’s companies at PQCHC for the final 12 years, has been appointed interim CEO, efficient instantly, whereas the seek for a brand new head of the group is underway, in line with the workers memo.

In July, 4 well being care employees have been terminated from the well being centre with out trigger, leaving what a number of described as harmful gaps in affected person protection within the centre’s clinic. A number of employees — all of whom requested to not be recognized for concern of shedding their jobs — mentioned some sufferers have been suggested to hunt care at a walk-in clinic or emergency division as a result of the clinic was not in a position to meet their wants.

McIntosh, in a earlier interview, characterised the terminations as a part of a restructuring plan aimed toward treating hundreds extra sufferers within the clinic. 

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There have been additionally allegations that metropolis funds meant for neighborhood housing applications resembling homework golf equipment have been misdirected and the cash was not being spent on staffing for these applications as anticipated, that means some neighborhood housing applications have been curtailed or not provided.

Town, which is offering greater than $1.5 million to Pinecrest-Queensway in 2022, is investigating after receiving a grievance in regards to the administration of its city-funded neighborhood housing applications.

NDP MPP Chandra Pasma, whose Ottawa West-Nepean using contains PQCHC, and Ottawa Centre NDP MPP Joel Harden say they’ve heard from quite a few present and former workers and sufferers with considerations in regards to the administration of the centre and the influence they are saying it’s having on among the metropolis’s most susceptible residents.

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Pasma and Harden just lately wrote to the province’s auditor common asking that she conduct a “worth for cash” audit on the centre. They’d earlier raised considerations in regards to the state of affairs with the minister of well being.

On Tuesday, Pasma mentioned the provincial audit ought to go forward.

“I feel it might be a very good transfer for brand spanking new administration and the board to open their books to the auditor common. I feel a part of setting a brand new path must contain figuring out what went on beforehand. I feel permitting the auditor common to have a look could be a extremely good step in ensuring Pinecrest-Queensway is transferring ahead in a extremely good robust path.”

She referred to as the information that McIntosh is not CEO “a optimistic step for the group.

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“The reviews over the previous few months have been more and more regarding for each sufferers and workers. I feel it was clear a change in administration was required. I hope new administration will take heed to the considerations of sufferers and workers, handle the disaster in staffing … and ensure this susceptible neighborhood is getting the healthcare they want.”

Metropolis councillor Theresa Kavanagh just lately instructed the centre’s board that staff and members of the neighborhood have approached her with considerations in regards to the centre.

“I’m very involved,” she mentioned.

Present and former employees have alleged {that a} local weather of harassment and bullying all through the group has brought about some staff to give up. Many say they have been afraid to talk out, fearing they might lose their jobs.

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Neighborhood well being centres serve among the most susceptible residents within the metropolis, together with many latest immigrants, refugees and folks with low incomes.

The well being centre’s sufferers typically have skilled trauma and it is not uncommon for them to have complicated well being points, say present and former workers. As well as, many don’t communicate English.

Neighborhood well being centres additionally supply social helps aimed toward addressing social determinants of well being.

Pasma and others questioned how the centre may terminate skilled health-care staff — together with two medical doctors, a nurse and a nurse practitioner, all with massive affected person masses — throughout a interval of worldwide well being employee shortages.

Some workers expressed frustration Tuesday that it had taken till now for a change in management.

“As we start a seek for a brand new, everlasting CEO within the coming months, we see this as a recent begin,” wrote board chair Bowes.