Peterborough Regional Health Centre

Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) was established in January 1999, following a directive from the Ontario Hospital Restructuring Commission. It is a combination of the former Peterborough Civic Hospital and St. Joseph's Health Centre, previously operating from those two locations in the City of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. All acute care services were provided at 1 Hospital Drive (the former Civic Hospital), located in the Central-West part of the city, while chronic, rehabilitation and palliative care services, along with some out-patient medical and surgical services, were provided from the 384 Rogers Street site (the former St. Joseph's Health Centre) located in the "East City" or Ashburnham neighbourhood of Peterborough.[1] Effective June 2008 all services of the PRHC (excluding some Outpatient Mental Health services and the Women's Health Care Centre) moved into a new 715,000 sq ft (66,400 m2) hospital building located directly in front of the old Civic Hospital, across from the Nicholls Building, which continued to house some Outpatient Mental Health services (including the Schizophrenia Clinic, Family & Youth Clinic and Psychiatric Services for the Elderly) until 2010.[2]

Peterborough Regional Health Centre
Location in Ontario
Geography
Location1 Hospital Drive
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates44.3001°N 78.3476°W / 44.3001; -78.3476
Organization
Care systemPublic Medicare (Canada)
TypeDistrict
Services
Emergency departmentYes
Beds518
HelipadTC LID: CNU3
History
Opened1999
Links
Websitewww.prhc.on.ca
ListsHospitals in Canada

In late 2010, all patient services, including the Women's Health Care Centre, were moved into the new hospital building. Demolition of the Nicholls building began in fall 2011 and was completed in December 2011.[3][4]

The hospital is affiliated with the Queen's University School of Medicine, and is a training site for the Family Medicine Residency Program.

Service area

The City of Peterborough (pop. 81,032 (2016)), located in Central-East Ontario, is one of the largest cities between the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Ottawa, and is the business, culture, education, and health care centre of a greater region stretching from the Counties of Northumberland (south) to Haliburton (north), and the City of Kawartha Lakes (west) to Hastings County (east). The region covers a huge geographic area, and is home to a population of approximately 300,000.

As a regional hospital, the PRHC receives many urgent and emergency transfers of seriously ill or injured patients from smaller hospitals in (and outside) its catchment area, including hospitals in Bancroft, Barry's Bay, Belleville, Campbellford, Cobourg, Haliburton, Lindsay, Minden Hills and Trenton.

Peterborough Regional Health Centre is often accessed by ORNGE - both to incoming and outgoing patients.

Staff and volunteers

PRHC is the region's largest employer with a staff of approximately 2,400 and about 400 physicians with various privileges. The hospital has more than 600 volunteers.

Program and service areas

Statistics 2016 - 2017
  • Admitted 19,087 inpatients
  • 83,319 visits to the Emergency Department
  • 215,850 outpatient visits
  • 30,451 Mental Health & Addictions outpatient visits
  • 4,999 radiation treatment visits
  • Performed 125,133 Diagnostic Imaging procedures
  • Delivered 1,572 babies into the world
  • Performed 22,034 surgical procedures
  • Performed 942 hip and knee procedures
  • Completed 1.65 million laboratory tests
  • Completed 2024 cardiac procedures
  • Administered 2.3 million doses of medication

Controversy

In November 2014 Ken Tremblay, the hospital’s CEO was walked out of the building. Alan Wotherspoon speaking for the board of directors refused to say whether Tremblay quit or was fired and would only say that it was a human resources issue. Two weeks later three more executives at the hospital were also no longer working there, including Arnel Schiratti, Cathy van Leipsig and Michael Moore. The hospital refused to say whether they were fired or quit. The hospital advised the community that it was in the process of reviewing its finances. A later audit of the hospital’s financial records revealed that a total of $57 million was accounted for incorrectly on the hospital's balance sheet, rather than on its statement of operations as usable revenue. Members of the local community and the Peterborough Health Coalition were upset at the secrecy surrounding events at the hospital and the fact budget cuts had been taking place for years.[5][6]

In October 2012 the lawyer heading the effort to start a class-action lawsuit over the breach of privacy of more than 280 patients at Peterborough Regional Health Centre said he will seek to launch the action before the end of the year. Several of the affected patients have spoken publicly about having their medical records accessed by hospital staff who weren’t involved in treating them. Some have said they had been the victims of earlier breaches at the hospital last year, and that they received letters in the fall informing them of the situation.[7]

Helipad

The hospital has a ground level helipad located next to the hospital. A short walkway provides access from the helipad to transfer patients to the emergency room.

References
  1. "PRHC History", prhc.on.ca, Peterborough Regional Health Centre, retrieved March 20, 2019
  2. "Renovating Nicholls Building would cost up to $1.5 million", thepeterboroughexaminer.com, July 2009, retrieved 2010-01-19
  3. Skarstedt, Clifford (November 10, 2011). "Demolition of Nicholls Building continues". Peterborough Examiner. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012.
  4. Skarstedt, Clifford (November 25, 2011). "Smokestack about all that stands as demolition continues at Nicholls Building site". Peterborough Examiner. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012.
  5. Frank, Sarah (January 21, 2015). "Peterborough Regional Health Centre has nothing left to share about "accounting errors"". mykawartha.com. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  6. Frank, Sarah (March 10, 2015). "Peterborough Regional Health Centre would have saved the money, regardless of 'errors'". mykawartha.com. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  7. "PRHC privacy lawsuit to go ahead". Peterborough Examiner. February 18, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
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