qathet Regional Hospital District board has referred a proposed revised memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) back to staff to solicit feedback from hospital board members.
At the June 24 regional hospital board meeting, directors discussed an MOU proposed by VCH between VCH, qathet Regional Hospital District, Sea to Sky Regional Hospital District and Sunshine Coast Regional Hospital District. The new MOU is designed to replace the original MOU from March 31, 2014.
According to a staff report, the language in the revised MOU could be interpreted as being overly obligatory and the staff report offered suggestions that neutralizes the MOU.
City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott said the MOU had been drafted by VCH. She asked if there had been input from the three board chairs regarding the MOU.
Electoral Area B director and hospital board chair Mark Gisborne said it had not gone before the three chairs. He said that with the proposed motion on the meeting agenda that the board accept the MOU, he would be more comfortable with a different motion where members of the board provide their input.
“I can take that input to the other chairs,” said Gisborne “There has been discussion by the three chairs to have a joint session on the central coast between Sea to Sky, Sunshine Coast and qathet hospital districts, where we can discuss what all three parties want. There are some concerns that we run into that Sea to Sky may have already done and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
Electoral Area A director Jason Lennox said he wanted to hear comments from chief administrative officer Al Radke about the MOU being overly obligatory. Lennox said in the staff report, he had seen where passages from the MOU have been removed.
“Are we going to have different policies for different boards?” asked Lennox.
Radke said that was his question, too. He said he met with the staff member who put the MOU together and there was a frank discussion.
“Directions were just to comment and provide feedback,” said Radke. “I don’t know when the chairs are going to meet again. It might be worthwhile to share suggestions and come back to a future meeting with everyone’s thoughts.”
Lennox said he found it interesting that the language Radke had proposed in his staff report is out of the Hospital District Act, whereas the extra verbiage around commitments have actually been added to the MOU by VCH.
Gisborne said he liked Radke’s suggestion that directors can take the MOU home as homework and let him know their thoughts. He said he expected a meeting of the chairs sometime within the next two weeks.
“If you want to go that route, you can fill my email inbox with suggestions,” said Gisborne.
Corporate officer Michelle Jones suggested a motion to refer the matter to staff to bring to a future meeting.
The hospital board carried the recommended motion unanimously.
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