Health board chair reports on amalgamation

On Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017 the Sunrise Regional Health Authority met in the Board Room at Yorkton Regional Health Centre in Yorkton.

The following is a summary of the highlights from the meeting;

At the Jan. 25, meeting of the Sunrise Regional Health Authority, Chairperson Don Rae reported on the Jan. 4, announcement from the provincial government’s advisory panel report regarding the health care system in Saskatchewan. The government has released and accepted all of the recommendations in the Saskatchewan Advisory Panel on Health System Structure Report entitled “Optimizing and Integrating Patient-Centred Care”, and announced the province will consolidate the 12 existing Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) into one single Provincial Health Authority. Regional Health Authority representatives, CEOs and other health region employees, client representatives and partners will be invited to participate in working groups as plans evolve with the health system transition.

President and CEO, Suann Laurent discussed updates from her report. The annual Year at a Glance document was shared with board members, highlighting strategic accomplishments, events and activities from throughout the region in 2016.

President and CEO Suann Laurent has accepted a secondment opportunity to work full-time on the provincial health system transition team in Regina effective Jan. 27. The transition team has been tasked with the project work required to transition the health system into one provincial health authority, and includes representatives from various health regions and partner agencies. Suann Laurent will manage the work stream focused on governance, legislation and organizational design. During Suann’s secondment, Christina Denysek, Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships, will be performing duties as interim President and CEO of Sunrise Health Region.

Decisions Governance process policies reviewed this month were for board and committee expenses, code of conduct, board team charter, conflict of interest, board planning cycle and agenda control, policy monitoring schedule, board member non-performance, and board handling of concerns and complaints. The board received policy monitoring reports on executive limitation related to treatment of staff, occupational health and safety, prevention of abuse towards healthcare workers, smoking, and compensation and benefits.

The board also received the semi-annual report about client safety reporting and provincial issue alerts and quality improvement summary reports. The Ethics Framework was reviewed and approved as presented.

In January, the Board approved the purchase of capital equipment and projects totalling $154,381.09. The Financial Condition Report, up to and including November 30, 2016, shows Sunrise Health Region in a surplus position with operating revenues exceeding operating expenditures by $845,349 or 0.6 per cent of budget.

The next regular meeting of the Regional Health Authority is March 29.