Vitalit board chair doubles down on assertion board members approved health reform

The chair of the Vitalit health network's board has doubled down on the assertion that board members voted to approve a controversial health reform plan.

Michelyne Paulin issued a new statement Thursday responding to a claim by the board's former vice-chair Norma McGraw that it never came to a vote.

Paulin says the vote took place at a board meeting Dec. 10 that she says McGraw attended.

McGraw quit the board Wednesday, saying that "no resolution for or against the closure of emergency departments or on changes to the role of these hospitals was presented" at the meeting.

She said she had reviewed her materials from her four-year term on the board "and I found no formal resolution" on emergency department changes or other elements of the plan.

Vitalit's first statement Wednesday, responding to McGraw, said board members were aware of the proposed changes, but it didn't say explicitly they had voted.

The new statement Thursday does assert that.

"At an in camera meeting on December 10, 2019, Vitalit health network's board of directors did indeed adopt a motion supporting the health care reform," Paulin said in the statement.

"I wish to set the record straight and reiterate that a motion on the health care reform was indeed moved, debated and adopted by the board. "I can confirm that said motion was sent to the Department of Health on December 12, 2019."

It also says the plan was discussed at four board meetings between April and December 2019, all of which it says McGraw attended.

The release from Vitalit does not include any documentation of the resolution nor any minutes from the board meeting.

McGraw wants public release

McGraw responded to the new statement by challenging Paulin to release the resolution publicly.

"If she says there was a vote, she should share the resolution with the public," she said.

The new statement is significant because Paulin and CEO Gilles Lanteigne told the legislature's Public Accounts committee on Feb. 19 that the board supported the plan and there had been a vote approving it.

Lanteigne told Liberal MLA Benoit Bourque he couldn't provide a copy of the resolution because the decision was made in a closed-door meeting, "so it's not available yet."

Bourque said Wednesday that if it turned out that Paulin and Lanteigne misled the committee, they would have to resign or be fired.

The Thursday statement says the health authority wanted to reassure both the public and the members of the committee that a motion was adopted.

The plan would have seen emergency departments in six small hospitals--in Sussex, Perth-Andover, Sackville, Ste-Anne-de-Kent, Caraquet and Grand Falls--close from midnight to 8 a.m. so that resources could be shifted to care for more patients during the day.

The Higgs government cancelled the plan five days after announcing it, promising to hold public consultations on health reforms this spring.