N.B. extends contracts of Horizon and Vitalité trustees overseeing reforms

The province has extended the contracts of the two people appointed to oversee reforms at the Horizon and Vitalité health networks until at least the end of June, marking nearly one year since they were installed in place of the boards.

Suzanne Johnston and Gérald Richard were appointed last July in a major shakeup of New Brunswick's health-care leadership, following the death of a patient in the waiting room of the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital's emergency department in Fredericton.

Premier Blaine Higgs dropped Dorothy Shephard as health minister, fired Horizon's president and CEO Dr. John Dornan and removed the Horizon and Vitalité boards, which included members elected by the public and members appointed by government, citing a growing health-care crisis that included the patient's "traumatizing" death.

Higgs said at the time the boards were revoked to make quicker changes at the two health authorities, but he didn't have a timeline for when he expected results from the two trustees and was vague on what their targets were.

The contracts of Johnston, of Horizon, and Richard, of Vitalité, were set to expire on March 31.

But Department of Health spokesperson Sean Hatchard confirmed in an email they have both been extended until June 30.

The terms have not changed, he said.

"The trustees are being paid a total of $5,000 each, plus expenses, per month for all of their work in reforming the provincial health-care system.

"These funds equal the amounts that had previously been allotted for the chairs of the regional health authorities' boards of directors."

Asked about the government's plans moving forward, Hatchard said, "Further discussions with the trustees will be held to see how long they may need to see through a number of important health reforms within the provincial health plan."

The department will "have more to share on the governance of the regional health authorities in the weeks and months to come," he added, without elaborating.

Johnston, a nurse who served as the president of Niagara Health in Ontario for several years, and Richard, a former deputy minister of health, were originally appointed by the government in November 2021 as co-chairs of a health plan implementation task force.

The independent task force's role was to make recommendations to the ministers of Health and Social Development, the government said at the time.

In a government-issued news release in June, the co-chairs provided an update on implementation of actions in the health plan, Stabilizing Health Care: An Urgent Call to Action, after they met with more than 40 individuals and community and organization leaders.