Lambton County Councillors expressed frustrations over what has been a long wait for establishing a withdrawal management centre locally.
A representative with the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) addressed county council in a delegation Wednesday morning in Wyoming.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley questioned the location and timeline for the proposed 24-bed detox centre.
Senior Director, Health System Design and Implementation Ralph Ganter says the LHIN is currently in discussions with Ontario's Health Ministry.
"We have a process with respect to the capital side of withdrawal management. That is submitted already to the ministry, our board had endorsed it," he says. "So we're going through a process right now in terms of clarifying questions between the ministry, the hospital and ourselves, so that we can get this into a phase where we can actually start to see it approved and it actually becomes a building project."
Ganter also updated council on the LHIN's Integrated Health Services Plan (IHSP) and some of their concerns regarding high level of use in emergency departments that could be treated elsewhere.
Sarnia saw 736 emergency department visits per 1,000 population compared to the provincial average of 427.
