Government approves amalgamation of Kirkland and Englehart District Hospitals
The Ontario Ministry of Health has approved the amalgamation request of the Kirkland and Englehart hospitals.
According to officials, the approval clears the way for the two organizations to complete the legal filings necessary to finalize the amalgamation process and officially become known as “Blanche River Health”.
President and CEO, Sean Conroy states “reaching this key milestone has been a significant focus for our hospitals over the past few years. We embarked on what started as a relationship of sharing resources over 10 years ago, which progressed to integrating many roles and organizational structures, that has led us to the next logical step – the formal amalgamation of our two organizations.”
He adds “we were thrilled to receive the official approval from the Minister of Health, and on behalf of the Board of Directors for each hospital, I want to thank our staff, physicians, Ministry of Health, Ontario Health / Northeast LHIN, and our communities for their commitment and support as we evolved and navigated through this process.”
“The decision to amalgamate came naturally since the two hospitals have been operating in many respects as one entity,” says Chief of Staff, Dr. Mark Spiller. “Amalgamation provides the hospitals more opportunity to access clinical, financial, and operational efficacies, as well as the ability to further improve patient care through increased sharing of resources and medical expertise.” Dr. Spiller adds.
Plans are already underway to officially introduce and launch the new entity in alignment with the completion of the required legal steps to combine the two organizations into a single corporate entity. Future communications will provide more details as plans and timing are finalized.