Re: LHIN board member resigns over lack of scrutiny, Oct. 3 The News.

I applaud Dr. Birch on his courage in putting his principles first and resigning from the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network board. He has exposed the gaping flaws in the LHIN model and decision-making-process, which were very much in evidence during the board's recent "deliberations" in regard to Hamilton Health Sciences' Access to the Best Care plan.

While I am a critic of the ABC plan and process, I feel sure that HHS and other hospital organizations are caught between a rock and a hard place. I am convinced that the ABC plan will, in both the short and long terms, have a negative impact on patient care without the expected cost savings, but hospitals clearly do not have the funds to provide the health-care services communities need and expect.

If improving care for children is contingent upon compromising care for adults, then something is seriously wrong with the health-care system.

Under current circumstances, recruiting doctors, paying them adequately and giving them good working conditions are not possible. The C difficile deaths in Ontario have graphically highlighted the impact staff cuts and lack of proper oversight can have.

And, in spite of the obvious and serious shortcomings of the HNHB LHIN decision-making process, all Local Health Integration Networks are put in the position of managing "zero sum games," where one community can gain only if another loses.

It is time for the government to step up and address the funding crisis in public health care. They should also ensure that health care decision-making boards are representative of, accessible to, and, through election of at least some of their members, accountable to their constituencies.

Marie Jacobs

Burlington