Leamington OB unit closure delayed until board decides future

The Eire St. Clair LHIN is forming an expert panel to help it decide on the future of Leamington hospital's obstetrics unit, in the meantime, the board is telling the hospital to keep the unit open.

The hospital had asked the LHIN to close the unit at the end of March, 2015.

The board said it needs more time to make a decision and will form an expert panel to help them make one.

Martin Girash said the panel needs to think outside the box and look at what other rural hospitals are doing across the province.

"We're dealing with a special situation here however, they're also, I'm sure dealing with similar kind of situations in other areas of the province where there is a rural hospital," said Girash.

He said the panel needs give more than a yes or no answer on whether or not to close the unit

A decision on the hospital's future is not expected until sometime spring next year.