On Oct. 28, Brampton opened the doors to a brand new, state-of-the-art hospital.

The high-tech facility, which replaced Peel Memorial Hospital as the primary health care facility in this city, was supposed to attract the best and brightest professionals and put Brampton on the health care map.

But it didn't take long before accusations concerning daylong waits in the emergency department and poor patient care spiraled the hospital, and the public, into a state of paralysis.

More than 1,000 people filled the downtown core in December after the deaths of two patients sparked a firestorm with members of Brampton's Indo-Canadian community.

The families of 52-year-old Harnek Sidhu, who died of pancreatitis, and Amarjit Narwal, 42, who died of a stroke, alleged doctors did not treat their relatives until it was too late.

On top of that, residents and community leaders lashed out at the decision to close Peel Memorial, which Queen's Park plans to keep dormant for a year before redevelopment begins in 2009-10.

Many Bramptonians want the Lynch Street site to be reopened as a fully functioning hospital in order to meet the needs of a community numbering around 450,000.

The complaints have also fueled an ongoing controversy over the public-private partnership model that built the roughly $800 million hospital, with opponents blaming the P3 deal for alleged cost overruns and a shortage of beds and staff.

As a result of the massive fallout, former Trillium Health Centre CEO Ken White was appointed supervisor of BCH and charged with fixing hospital services in Brampton.

He reports directly to Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman.

Since his arrival, three top hospital executives, including William Osler Health Centre CEO Bob Richards, have left their posts with more top-level dismissals and "earlier retirements" apparently in the cards.

The Guardian sat down with White and asked his take on the controversies surrounding BCH, the subsequent fallout, and how he plans to put it all back together again.

Q: Brampton Civic Hospital has been drenched in controversy since it opened last October. What is your assessment of the situation and is the public reaction fair?

A: There is controversy from a number of different angles. The issue of P3 is one side of it and there have been certain patient issues too, which is another side of it. P3 is a new concept ... and whether this particular model fits our Canadian value system is something that remains to be seen.

With respect to patient complaint issues, the health care system isn't perfect. We don't always do things perfectly. But if somebody feels they've been wronged by the health care system, we are accountable and do in fact answer to those things.

And other times we are falsely accused.

Q: What has been the fallout of the controversy?

A: Right now we are having a hard time recruiting and keeping people working in the emergency department. In fact, we are losing people more quickly than we are able to recruit them for the emergency department. And that's pretty serious. The need for treatment isn't going to go away. If we don't have the staff there to look after folks then it's creating a fairly serious situation so I am concerned about that. That part of it I don't think is fair where it is impacting the people who work here. I think the staff, and I am not talking about people like myself, but the people that actually deliver the care, are a pretty proud bunch and want to be proud of what they are doing. And with this kind of thing they are finding it difficult.

Some people (staff) are taking this situation fairly personally and so there is a feeling of 'I don't want to work here. I don't want to be a part of this. I want to work somewhere where I am proud to work and appreciated within the community.' A lot of these people live in the community, which makes it that much more hurtful.

This is quite serious. People are calling for a full ramp up of the hospital and we are ramping up as fast as we can, but we have to attract people and keep them here and that has been a challenge. The hospital was doing very well with (recruitment) but some of this noise has scared people off.

Q: What do you think has to be done to "heal the wounds" between William Osler (BCH) and the public?

A: Wounds are healed in a number of ways. I think having a meaningful relationship and dialogue is the first way to heal wounds. Another really important thing is we must leave (what has happened) behind us. What was, was and what happened, happened. Let's get on with things.

When the minister asked me if I would be prepared to do this, basically the one reason I said yes was because I think this organization is positioned to be a great, great health care organization and it will only become that if we all link arms and join hands and make it happen together. No single person is going to do this. I am not going to do it and certainly no political activist group is going to do it alone. But we can all do it together and that means creating a community that attracts health care professionals and creating a space where people feel good about coming to work and happy to serve. We have to get our differences behind us and move forward with what could be a really exciting future.

Q: Do you consider that to be your greatest challenge?

A: Yes. The greatest challenge will be to align the community with the hospital. It's the community's hospital. And I think the more we can create an understanding and a meaningful dialogue between the community and the hospital, the better off we will be. We won't get anywhere if things remain the way they are now. If we remember what we are all here for, which is to provide care and service to the residents of Brampton, then I think rather than talk at each other we should talk with each other and work together and address the issues.

Q: What do you hope to achieve during your time here? What would you like to see happen before your year mandate is over?

A: I would like to see the kinks worked out of BCH so it is functioning well.

It's a lot of change. I think this was a major transition for staff, moving into this huge, huge centre and trying to adapt their systems to the new. It's a lot of change in one sudden whack. And I think it's not surprising that there have been (issues) to work out.

I want see the hospital on its feet financially. William Osler wasn't exactly in the best financial position and then the (hospital) project kind of took its toll on that too. When I was investigator here we developed some approaches we thought would improve their financial position and I think over the next two to three years they could be in a good position.

Q: Can you give an example?

One of the real opportunities is that you've got a brand new hospital that's pretty well fully equipped. You don't have to replace that equipment for a while so you can use your depreciation allowances, which are granted by the Ministry of Health, to build some reserves. That's one way. There's an operating plan ramp up and it's built on the old operating cost level and with the new technology there are efficiencies you can gain.

Q: The resignations of top executives have been perceived as an overall shakeup at the top levels of the organization. Could these individuals have played a role in your plans had they chosen to stay on?

A: Anybody could play a role. It just depends where you're at and I think the conclusion was it was time for them to move on. I think these people worked very, very hard for a long time; these people ran two hospitals and were busy building a new one. And that is not a small task. I think people were tired. I think it was a personal decision on their part to leave.

Q: Do you have any thoughts on a possible future use for PMH?

I won't be here long enough to see it to completion but I would like to see some really exciting plans for Peel Memorial underway. I was founding president and CEO at Trillium Health Centre (in Mississauga) and my vision at that time was to really advance the cause for an ambulatory care centre, which is built around a mall concept so there is an ease of access. If you are going in for a diagnostic, a test or a day surgery, it's kind of a drive up to the door access to that service. And for all of us that is what we want, as opposed to being housed in a bed for days and dealt with on an inpatient basis and have to experience the difficulty of being able to access the service through an inpatient experience.

Health care is changing and it needs to change, and with technology it is amazing what we can do on an outpatient basis. There is a very exciting vision for that site.