NEW HALTON HEALTHCARE PRESIDENT ARRIVES AT CRITICAL TIME

EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS UNDER SERIOUS STRAIN

With Halton Healthcare emergency department wait times sitting at an average of five hours and 42 minutes, the organization's new president and CEO acknowledges she has some work ahead of her.

Melissa Farrell officially stepped into the top job on Monday, June 5 noting that she is doing so at a critical time for health care.

"I consider myself fortunate to be joining a team that is widely known for embracing change and for adapting to any challenge it faces," she said.

"Halton Healthcare is known for its exceptional care and its dedicated and talented health care teams. I am excited to get to know the outstanding people that make up this team and to lead the organization while supporting the growing communities we serve."

Farrell comes to Halton Healthcare from her previous position as President of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton where she led a multi-site academic teaching hospital, affiliated with McMaster University.

Prior to that Farrell had a career focused in the public sector.

She arrives at a Halton Healthcare still reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On July 18, 2022, Halton Healthcare took to its Facebook account to advise residents that the emergency departments at its hospitals

in Oakville, Milton and Georgetown were under extreme pressure due to a nursing shortage and an extremely high volume of patients needing care.

The post noted that at times, there were not enough staff to service all areas of the emergency department, resulting in longer wait times and the temporary reduction of treatment areas.

Cindy McDonell, Halton Healthcare senior vicepresident of Clinical Operations

noted that like all hospitals in Ontario, Halton Healthcare emergency departments continue to be busy with a high volume of patients.

"We know we have work to do to address wait times, so our teams are enacting a range of strategies that will address staffing and patient flow, which includes how patients are admitted from the emergency department into the hospital, when necessary," said McDonell.

"As always, patients can

expect to be seen in order of urgency. Across Halton Healthcare, our emergency department wait time for the month of May was 5 hours 42 minutes. This time represents the average time for the majority of patients to be seen by a doctor or nurse practitioner in the emergency department."

Farrell said she is working with very skilled teams and leaders who are trying to address a number of issues.

She said a renewed focus has been placed on action plans for retention, recruitment, professional development, team well-being and engagement, student placement and academic partnerships and more.

The new Halton Healthcare president and CEO said this work is being led by a dedicated, multidisciplinary team of staff and physicians from across the organization, who have already seen some early success.

Halton Healthcare senior vice-president of Patient Engagement Joan Jickling said that in the first five months of 2023 the recruitment initiatives resulted in the hiring and onboarding of 164 nurses.

Jickling says Halton Healthcare plans to add more nurses to the team in June.

Farrell said that to continue to support services in Halton's growing communities, Halton Healthcare recently launched a clinical service planning process that will determine a road map for service delivery across the three hospitals.

She also said the organization would keep up with Halton's growth by continuing to pursue the Georgetown Hospital redevelopment and approval to fit out the shelled space at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.

"I look forward to building on Halton Healthcare's strong foundation to evolve, embrace and lead change so we can continue to support the current and future needs of our communities and teams," said Farrell.

Farrell is currently a board member of the Ontario Hospital Association.

She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master's Degree in Planning from Queen's University and has continued educational development in leadership programs at Harvard Business School, Ivey Business School and The Rotman School of Management.

"We know we have work to do to address wait times, so our teams are enacting a range of strategies that will address staffing and patient flow."

- Cindy McDonell, Halton

Healthcare senior vice-president of Clinical

Operations