County spends on health care
Provides some explanation for trumping Northumberland Hills Hospital
Northumberland County continues to spend a lot of its time and our money on health care, stepping in to fill gaps left by the province, which legally is responsible for the area.
At its meeting on Wednesday, the county confirmed it will spend $1.6 million to buy defibrillators and automated external chest-compression units for county paramedics. The 25 defibrillators will replace units that are at the end of their life. The 15 automated chest-compression units are a new tool for the paramedic teams that will improve care, a report said.
Councillors also had a demonstration of paramedics in action, as part of National Paramedics Week.
In addition, minutes in the agenda for the meeting provided some details around the council’s decision in March to cut funding for Northumberland Hills Hospital in Cobourg.
First, some history to give the issue context and a recap of what happened in March.
Back in the late 1990s for a couple of years I wrote about health policy for the Toronto Star. This was during the period that the Mike Harris government was restructuring the hospital system and closing several small, rural facilities.
One of the many stories that I wrote was about the tension between Port Hope and Cobourg, which each had an older hospital that couldn’t meet future needs and wanted a new one to serve both communities. But the province was only going to approve one new facility for the area. Residents felt strongly that their community should get the new building.
In the end, the province built the new hospital, Northumberland Hills, in Cobourg, but in a different location that had more room and access to Highway 401. Many of the people in Port Hope were not happy and still aren’t.
That’s the history that helps make sense of what happened in March.
In 2022 the county signed an agreement to pay $250,000 per year to support the two hospitals in the county – Campbellford Memorial and Northumberland Hills. Campbellford would get 25 per cent of the money -- $62,500 – and Northumberland Hills would receive 75 per cent or $187,500. That’s what happened for the past three years.
But last fall the county supported a walk-in clinic in Port Hope as part of its efforts to increase primary-care service. The clinic had been strongly championed by Olena Hankivsky, Mayor of Port Hope and Deputy Warden of the county.
As I wrote last month, at its meeting on March 19, council was to discuss a $125,000 grant for the Port Hope Walk-in Clinic. But council decided to hold that discussion in closed session, saying it was necessary because they were diverting budgeted money. I don’t think that’s a legitimate reason for a closed session but no one asked me.
When they came out of the private session, council passed a motion to give the Port Hope clinic $187,500 without any explanation for why it increased the amount.
Another motion said council had directed staff to look at the budget and come to a future meeting with a recommendation of what could be cut to pay for the extra money directed to the clinic.
That was clearly not the case and was misleading, to put it mildly.
In fact, during the private session county council agreed to trump the Northumberland Hills Hospital, abrogate its agreement and give that money to Port Hope.
(Yes, trump is an accepted verb these days. It means to break a deal that you signed without any reasonable explanation, see for example, Canada-U.S. free trade.)
The next day, March 20, county Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore wrote to Susan Walsh, President and CEO of Northumberland Hills, to tell her she had been trumped.
“Regrettably, due to unforeseen budgetary constraints and the need to prioritize funding allocations across multiple critical areas, Northumberland Council made the difficult decision on March 19, 2025 to discontinue the county's financial support for Northumberland Hills Hospital. This decision was not made lightly; the elected officials and the county’s administration recognize that funding is difficult to acquire for the capital expenditures hospitals need.”
She outlined the deal the county was breaking and noted “over the past three years, Northumberland County provided $562,500 to NHH. $187,500 was provided to NHH annually in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Per the Agreement (Clause 2.2, Term and Scope), this letter serves as the termination of the agreement, effective 30 days from the date of this letter (April 19, 2025).
“Northumberland County Council voted to redirect these funds to the Port Hope Medical Walk-In Clinic, as primary care is the most urgent need at this time,” Moore wrote. “Supporting this clinic should alleviate some of the pressures that your hospital experiences from people coming to the ER for non-emergency issues.”
She went on to say that while the county was stiffing the hospital, “Northumberland Council and the Corporation of Northumberland County remain committed to explore ways to support your mission and the critical work you do, and to advocate for the hospital wherever possible.”
Moore sent a similar letter to Jeff Hohenkerk, CEO of Campbellford Memorial Hospital, notifying him that the county would stick to its agreement with his hospital, but was ending the deal with Northumberland Hills.
News of this switcheroo only came out because Northumberland Hills and MPP David Piccini wrote to the county to complain. Those letters were included in the council’s April agenda.
At that time, I asked the county’s communications director Kate Campbell for copies of the letters the county had sent, and she didn’t respond. I also asked why the discussion and decision was made in private and her answer essentially was because they could.
She assured me it would all become public in good time.
“This process will be formally daylighted in the minutes at a future council meeting in accordance with the county’s daylighting policy,” Campbell told me in an email in mid-April.
The letters are included in the minutes in the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting. I guess that means they’ve been daylighted. Apparently, that’s defined as meeting the letter of a requirement for public sharing, while doing your best to ensure no one notices. FYI, a search of the county’s website finds no reference to daylighting.
If you’re interested, the motions are on page 52 of the 195-page agenda for last Wednesday’s meeting and the letters are pages 72-74.
You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.
Appears something going on between the two towns.
It seems to me that "daylighted" is newspeak for "released". Obviously fine to use the term in a quote, in no small part to relate how much obfuscation is involved. However I regret that you've granted it any legitimacy by using it in your article.
As for trump as a verb, for me it will always mean to play a stronger hand, not always in a card game. Pity we can't use drumph as a verb for that meaning (Drumph being the president's ancestral surname). Or maybe a compound: dumpsterfire, as in "county council agreed to dumpsterfire the NHH". ;)