Standing in front of the Sackville Hospital today, Green Party Leader David Coon announced that a Green government will restore autonomy to local hospitals and health centres.

“I will re-establish the essential role of the hospital administrator to ensure hospitals have the autonomy they need to ensure they can provide the health services local people need, when they need them,” said Coon.

Coon also committed to establishing community health boards to ensure local healthcare services reflect the needs and expectations of the community. These will replace the role public members play on the Regional Health Authority Boards.

“Decentralization will provide better decision-making that reflects local realities,” said Coon. “It will restore a true sense of belonging for the hospital staff, confident that they are part of a team working together to serve the community.”

“Successive governments have failed to listen to what people living in rural areas need, and failed to recognize that these ill-conceived plans would add strain to the already overburdened urban hospitals,” said Green Party campaign co-chair and candidate for Memramcook-Tantramar Megan Mitton. “We need decision-making at the local level, by our local communities and at the hospital level, not by someone in Fredericton who doesn’t listen to our community.”