The CEO of Ontario Health atHome, the beleaguered provincial agency responsible for the provision of home-care medical supplies, has been fired.
A source confirmed to the Star that Cynthia Martineau was let go Tuesday from her role as CEO of the agency, which has been under fire following reports last fall that patients who receive medical care at home, and the doctors and nurses who treat them, could not access basic medical supplies, such as syringes, pain pumps and catheters.
Queen鈥檚 Park online news site, The Trillium, and CBC News initially reported that Martineau was no longer with the agency.
鈥淐ynthia Martineau is no longer with Ontario Health atHome,鈥 the agency said in a statement to the Star. 鈥淲e understand how vitally important home and community care is to families across the province. That is why, together with our partners, we will continue to take action to improve the delivery of high-quality, accessible and connected care.鈥
Martineau could not be reached for comment.
In a memo to employees announcing the leadership change Tuesday, Carol Annett, chair of Ontario Health atHome鈥檚 board of directors, said Martineau 鈥渉as led our organization with compassion, dedication and an unwavering commitment to serving patients and their families.鈥
鈥淪he has been instrumental in advancing our organizational goals and we are grateful for her many contributions,鈥 reads the memo, obtained by the Star.
The memo says that Anna Greenberg, executive vice president and COO of Ontario Health, will take on the role of interim CEO of Ontario Health atHome.听
Home-care patients and their caregivers began to notice in October 2024 that shipments of medical supplies were arriving late, incomplete or in some cases, not at all. Doctors reported that the shortages also affected pain-relief drugs and some medical-assistance-in-dying (MAID) kits, which were showing up incomplete.
The problems coincided with changes to provincial contracts with private companies that procure medical supplies and fulfil deliveries across Ontario.听
In late September 2024, the province launched a new system in which two companies, Cardinal Health and Ontario Medical Supply (OMS), became the master service providers responsible for procurement of medical supplies, while four companies, including OMS, Bayshore Specialty Rx, Shoppers Drug Mart and Robinsons, became responsible for distribution to patients鈥 homes.听
This was a departure from previous years in which many local suppliers, such as pharmacies, were responsible for managing the procurement and delivery of medical supplies in regions that roughly coincided with the geographic areas covered by the province鈥檚 14 former Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).
Patients and their caregivers the Star spoke to say supply shortages were never an issue under the old system.听
Sources from the medical supply industry told the Star in November that the shortages were the result of several problems with the way the new system was rolled out.
First, the list of supplies and medications needed for home care, known as the 鈥減rovincial formulary,鈥 wasn鈥檛 ready until just before the new system was launched, the sources said.
Second, the quantities forecast by the province were too low to meet demand.
And third, a reduction in the number of suppliers responsible for larger geographic areas resulted in logistical and delivery issues.听
鈥淚n the future, any centralized procurement body needs to consult with the people who do the work with patients on the front lines,鈥 said one industry source involved with procurement. 鈥淭hat was the key failure here. There was no consultation.鈥
New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said Premier Doug Ford鈥檚 government should have taken responsibility for a 鈥渂ungled鈥 launch of the agency.
鈥淭he minister of health dropped the ball,鈥 Stiles told reporters Wednesday.
鈥淭his is a government that cannot get medicine and medical supplies to sick people. This is the most basic responsibility 鈥 and they are failing. So I think the real answer here is we need to get rid of this government.鈥
Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said the government expects 鈥渁ccountability and timely delivery of critical medical items that patients in home care need.鈥
鈥淲hile the NDP have voted against additional support to grow and modernize the home and community care sector, our government invested an additional $2 billion last year. This is in addition to the $1 billion our government invested through budget 2022, doubling our investment in the delivery of home and community care,鈥 she said.
Penny Moore, a home-care patient in London, Ont., says deliveries of medical supplies she relies on听have been disrupted since the province launched the new system.听
Nicole Osborne for the 海角社区官网StarNone of these explanations are of any comfort to Penny Moore, a home-care patient in London, Ont. She says deliveries of catheters and drainage bags that she relies on have been disrupted since the province launched the new system.听
In the last two weeks alone, Moore says catheters she expected to receive did not arrive, and when they did, they were made of latex, which she cannot use due to an allergy. When the right kind of catheters and drainage bags did show up, the quality was 鈥済arbage鈥 compared to what she received previously, she says.听
鈥淚f I went out in this weather right now with those bags, because they鈥檙e so thin, they will split, and they don鈥檛 drain,鈥 Moore says.听
Last fall, the catheter system Moore was using delivered by Bayshore Specialty Rx, one of the new provincial distributors, stopped draining properly and backed up into her kidneys, requiring her to be hospitalized.听
Bayshore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
鈥淗ome care is supposed to keep us out of hospital, not put us in the hospital,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 supposed to keep us out of the emerg and not in emerg waiting 15 hours to do what should be done at home.鈥
鈥淏ut if we鈥檙e not getting supplies, what are we supposed to do?鈥
Brett Geneau, a representative of CUPE, which has about 1,800 members at the provincial agency, said the home-care medical supply problems are a symptom of a massive restructuring of Ontario鈥檚 14 former LHINs into Ontario Health atHome that began in 2023 to oversee all in-home and community-based care across the province.听
Geneau, who works as a team assistant for Ontario Health atHome, says the agency has been in 鈥渃haos鈥 since the first week the supply system was changed.
He says employees dealing with patients calling to report problems with supply deliveries were given scripts of what to say 鈥渟o that we wouldn鈥檛 say something that we shouldn鈥檛.鈥澨
鈥淭hese products were not available or not showing up and it was weeks and months on end,鈥 Geneau says. 鈥淭here was no answer on when these products were coming in.鈥
With files from Rob Ferguson
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