The state Department of Public Health wants to know what the public thinks of plans to shutter medical-surgical services, close the intensive care unit and make the emergency department a free standing or “satellite” unit at Holy Family Hospital’s Haverhill campus.
State officials scheduled the formal public hearing Wednesday, July 23, at 6 p.m. at Northern Essex Community College’s David Hartleb Technology Center in room 103AB, 100 Elliott St., Haverhill.
As previously reported by WHAV, Lawrence General Hospital, which bought the local hospital for $28 million from bankrupt Steward Health Care last fall, is citing efficiency as the reason for closing the hospital’s 59 in-patient beds. When it announced the plan in May, hospital officials said only eight to 10 in-patient beds are used daily and that most patients who need further treatment are transferred to its two other hospitals in Lawrence and Methuen via ambulance.
That practice will continue under the new proposal. The hospital said 35 staff affected by the closure will be offered other positions.
Hospital officials promised there would be no changes in emergency services. The laboratory and scanning equipment will remain in place. The in-patient behavioral health unit will also continue operation as well as hyperbaric medicine and wound care. Hospital officials are also exploring establishing a sleep management center in Haverhill.
The public hearing is part of the state’s process for approving any substantive services changes at the hospital. Lawrence General seeks to make the changes effective Oct. 1.
Lawrence General officials have also scheduled their own “listening session” the following day, Thursday, July 24, at 5:30 p.m. in Johnson Auditorium at Haverhill Public Library, 99 Main St., Haverhill. Hospital spokeswoman Lori Howley told WHAV that session will focus on what it means to have a free-standing emergency department
The state is accepting written comments by July 23 at midnight. Comments may be submitted online at [email protected] or by mail at Public Health Department’s Division of Health Care Facility Licensure, 67 Forest Street, Marlborough, MA 01752. Letters should be sent to the attention of the licensure coordinator.