The WestCare Hospital Board voted 13-1 Tuesday night to dissolve its affiliation with Haywood Regional Medical Center.

WestCare, which includes both Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva and Swain County Hospital, partnered with Haywood Regional in early 2010 under the
MedWest banner. However, the partnership has not been beneficial to WestCare, the board decided.

Tuesday night's decision has been several months in the making, and comes with the support of physicians and hospital employees, who had been pushing for the partnership to dissolve.

While WestCare will now formally ask MedWest to dissolve the partnership, the MedWest board of directors — which includes an equal number of board members from both Haywood and WestCare — must agree to let WestCare out. The timetable for a vote is not yet known.