As Health Accord review continues, Burin Peninsula mayor warns against drastic service cuts

Residents of the Burin Peninsula are nervous about upcoming recommendations from the provincial health advisory team, concerned that any changes could decimate health-care services in the area, says a mayor from the region.

Marystown Mayor Brian Keating told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show reductions could mean the end of CT scans and bring changes to emergency services and day surgery at hospitals on the Burin Peninsula.

What's most frustrating, according to Keating, is that nobody exactly knows yet what the Health Accord team will recommend to the provincial government. 

"Really the direction they're giving us is no direction. They're actually giving us organized confusion," Keating said. "How do we fight something if we don't know what we're fighting?"

The 25-person team, which recently met with municipal leaders on the Burin Peninsula, is tasked with coming up with a 10-year plan for the future of health care in Newfoundland and Labrador while keeping the province's fiscal situation in mind. The team has been holding consultations in communities across the province.

Keating, who also chairs the Joint Council Health Accord Review Board for the Burin Peninsula, said changes would affect the U.S. Memorial Health Centre in St. Lawrence, the Dr. S. Beckley Health Centre in Grand Bank and the Burin Peninsula Health Care Centre.

Keating said virtual health care, which could replace some in-person services, won't work on the Burin Peninsula, which has spotty cellphone and internet coverage in areas.

What's more, said Keating, increasing air ambulance services to redirect residents to hospitals in nearby St. John's also won't work. Helicopters were not able to respond to the region for 250 days last year due to weather conditions, he said.

The Health Accord team says it's not recommending taking any services from the Burin hospital but, in a statement to CBC News, the group said it's "deeply concerned about the sustainability of services which have very low numbers" such as obstetrics and in-patient surgery.

According to the group there's been a serious population decline on the Burin Peninsula: about 35 per cent since 1990 — including a 71 per cent decrease in the number of children — with another nine per cent predicted by 2030.

The group also found that hospital occupancy in Burin was only at 53 per cent between 2019 and 2020.

To strengthen the health of residents living on the Burin Peninsula, says the Health Accord statement, the region needs a community team to which every person and every community living there is attached.

"This team brings together family physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses, social workers, mental health professionals, OTs [occupational therapists], physios, pharmacists, and elder-care workers," reads the statement. 

Health Accord's statement also says the peninsula needs a more integrated ambulance system with advanced care paramedics.