On Dr. Walde's departure and the cancer bunker

Those rumours that plans for the new hospital's radiation bunker have been nuked are absolutely false, says Sault Area Hospital's chief of staff, Dr. Alan McLean.

The radiation bunker is definitely moving forward, McLean told SooToday.com this afternoon.

"They've already poured the concrete for it," he says.

"There really is no going back on that now," says McLean. "I've certainly heard that rumour and I've confirmed that it's absolutely untrue."

But sadly, the rumours that SAH oncologist Dr. David Walde is leaving are true, says McLean.

"If anyone deserves to be able to retire a little bit early, he certainly does," says McLean. "He's put a lot of work into this community. He's developed programming and contributed lots to fundraising at the hospital. He's a remarkable man."

However, Dr. Walde's decision to retire from his practice at SAH on April 1 instead of in August, as he had planned, is going to leave the hospital in a difficult position.

"It leaves us short another oncologist," says McLean. "We were already short one oncologist, which is a huge issue for the workload that they have."

Replacing a person like Dr. Walde, who typically works a hundred hours a week or more, would be difficult in any circumstances, McLean added.

The hospital is working with Cancer Care Ontario to develop strategies to aggressively recruit at least one more oncologist, McLean told SooToday.com this afternoon.

It's also looking at ways to better coordinate care between SAH and other centres though Cancer Care Ontario to ensure that patients receive care when they need it, he said.

McLean said he couldn't speak for Dr. Walde and his decision, but he wouldn't be surprised if Walde was frustrated with the hospital's plan to close two oncology beds.

"The hospital has had huge financial difficulties and the different programs are being held to their budgets," McLean said. "There is no money out there to top up when people go over their budget."

The reality of life at the hospital is that it is functioning at a $10.8 million deficit right now.

That's the highest deficit in this Local Health Integration Network.

McLean said the decision to close two oncology beds at SAH has no bearing on what will be available at the new hospital.

The plan for the new SAH calls for eight oncology beds.

We had 10 until October, when one was closed.

In April when the next one is closed, it will have eight.

"Closing these two beds will, in fact, bring us down to the number that are planned for the new hospital," said McLean.

Sault MPP David Orazietti agreed that Dr. Walde will be greatly missed in his capacity as an oncologist at SAH and will be very difficult to replace.

"He has been a leader in our community in many ways and his contribution cannot be underestimated," Orazietti said.

The MPP also said he understands that SAH is dealing with a difficult financial crisis and said he couldn't comment on what measures it may be taking to cope with its deficit.