Council asked to examine hospital

LYNN – Donald Martin does not want Union Hospital to close, and he joined 163 other local residents in asking city councilors tonight to initiate a state investigation into hospital owners Partners HealthCare and North Shore Medical Center.”Some 90,000 people are in Lynn. Take away our hospital and what do we have?” the Rand Street resident asked on Monday.Handed into the city clerk’s office for certification in June, the petition asks the council to request the state attorney general’s office to “open an investigation into Partners HealthCare” ? “loss of resources and public trust.””The attorney general is committed to promoting access to high quality health care across the Commonwealth. We will review the petition once we receive it,” attorney general spokeswoman Jillian Fennimore said Monday.On July 1, NSMC President Robert Norton confirmed inpatient services in the Lynnfield Street hospital will be transferred to Salem Hospital under a three-year plan requiring state approval. Norton said Union Hospital’s emergency room will remain on Lynnfield Street during the three-year transition period, adding, “We are willing to work with the city and talk to Lynn officials on the overall use of the Union campus.”Partners and AG Maura Healey have crossed paths previously. After taking office in January, Healey used strict language to assess Partners’ plans to acquire a hospital south of Boston. When a state Superior Court judge rejected those plans a month later, Partners put proposed changes for Union Hospital on the backburner until July when it shocked local elected officials and residents by unveiling a plan to largely empty the hospital while expanding its North Shore Physicians Group practices in Lynn to “serve a wide range of health care needs of local residents.”In response to the petition, spokesman Kevin Ronningen on Monday said Partners/NSMC will “look forward to working through the public process and with city leaders to improve the health care for our entire region.”Martin and Lynn resident Sean Spates said Union Hospital’s future is also a concern for Saugus, West Peabody and Lynnfield residents. Spates said his family owns businesses in Lynn and has a long local heritage.He wants the AG to find out why Partners cannot execute its consolidation plans while keeping Union Hospital open.”It’s a good hospital, and I believe Lynn should have a full-service hospital,” Spates said.