On October 2, the LHSC Board of Directors approved a set of recommendations put forward by a committee of physicians, staff, consultants, and hospital partners from the University of Western Ontario, St. Joseph's Health Care London, and the London Regional Cancer Centre.

The Scoping Committee was asked to look at the range-- or scope-- of services the hospital provides with two goals in mind: first, to focus our available resources on providing excellent patient-centered care for the people of London/Middlesex and Southwestern Ontario; and second, to continue developing the strengths that set us apart as a leading academic health centre. As a result, 18 services were identified for "scope out," or gradual elimination.

On December 18, 2001, the Board of Directors received a set of recommendations put forward by the Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), which had reviewed new or different information concerning eight scoping decisions at the Board's request. At this meeting, the Board requested that the Hospital's management team review these recommendations and report back on January 15, 2002.

On January 15, 2002, the Board reversed the original scoping decision for adult heart transplants. Also on the recommendation of the MAC, the Board announced that the plastic surgery decision would be put on hold; that endovascular aneurysm surgery would continue subject to the approval of Ministry funding, but limited to patients from Southwestern Ontario in the interim; and that a decision on paediatric cardiac surgery would be deferred until the results of the provincial paediatric task force are announced. It was decided that plans to discontinue radionuclide therapy using Samarium would move forward, and that a decision regarding complex ankle surgery would be made after a second presentation by Orthotics to the MAC.

On March 26, the Board reversed the original scoping decision on paediatric craniofacial surgery at the recommendation of the MAC. The Board gave final approval to plans to discontinue UV light therapy, dermatology, and lung transplants.

On May 28, the Board approved a recommendation to continue paediatric rheumatology services at LHSC. As a result, the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario will continue to offer its Paediatric Rheumatology Clinic. Plans to discontinue obesity surgery, bowel transplants, and surgery for patients with mild sleep apnea only were approved. Sleep apnea patients will continue to be diagnosed and treated through the Sleep Medicine Clinic and Laboratory; however, as medical therapies have proven successful for patients with mild sleep apnea, only the more severe cases will be advanced for surgery.

On June 25, the Middlesex-London Health Unit and LHSC announced an agreement on the transfer of travel medicine services to the Health Unit.

On July 18, a report by Dr. Wilbert Keon upheld a recommendation by the provincial Specialized Pediatric Services Review Team to consolidate pediatric cardiac surgery services in one centre, the Hospital for Sick Children. The report also called for the designation of Children's Hospital of Western Ontario as the "preferred provider" of pediatric critical care in southwestern Ontario and advocated for resources to maintain skills and services at CHWO.

On November 29, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced an investment of $6 million over two years to evaluate endovascular treatment of aortic aneurysms. Of this amount, $3 million was committed to LHSC to treat a minimum of 135 patients over two years.

For more detailed information on any of these announcements, please see the "News Releases" section of this web site.

This web site is intended to provide general information about the scoping process and an update on the status of the services identified by the Scoping Committee.

Check back soon for updates to the following sections:

Questions and Answers about the scoping process, affected programs, and patient concerns.

News Releases issued by LHSC about the scoping recommendations.

For the Record, a section that lists media corrections and clarifications.

Transcripts of news conferences and broadcast media coverage.