The Sun Country Health Region board approved a balanced budget plan for 2017-18 that will break even, which has been submitted to the Ministry of Health for their approval.
The operating budget was set at $158 million, with expenses of $157.5 million, and with mortgage and lease payments of $608,000, Sun Country expects to end the fiscal year in a break-even position in their last year before the province consolidates all health regions into one provincial health board.
“To achieve a balanced budget in our final year, we will continue to focus on improving efficiencies throughout Sun Country Health Region, while sustaining emphasis on continuous safety and quality improvement to ensure appropriate access to and delivery of patient and family-centred care,” said Marilyn Charlton, chair of the board.
“To address the current challenging fiscal environment, we have introduced no new programs and frozen several vacant positions while managing to not reduce or eliminate programs, other than those affected by the 2017-18 provincial budget,” she added.
Acting CEO John Knoch commented that he was pleased with Sun Country’s financial record. “Sun Country’s success is credited to the hard work of management and staff in putting forward and reaching the financial targets,” he said.
In presenting further details of the budget to board members, Vanessa Marcotte noted two-thirds of the health region’s budget goes to the salaries and benefits of staff, with the health region employing 2,334 staff, of which 975 are full-time, 727 are part-time and 632 are casual positions, for a total of 1,341 full-time equivalent positions, not counting around 200 staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Estevan. The provincial funding covered the salary and benefit increases in the collective agreements for unionized employees.
Some of the effects of the provincial budget include a fee increase for long-term care, to take effect on July 15, cuts in funding for “non-core” programs, and no increase to the health regions to account for inflation, which will impact the health region by roughly $1 million. Of the cuts to “non-core” programs, in Sun Country this will apply to a parent mentoring program, for which funding will no longer be provided.
Marcotte also noted the province wants a wage reduction of 3.5 per cent, and she said, “We don’t know how that’s going to happen yet.”
Some of the measures taken by Sun Country include consolidating all dietary services at Tatagwa View, for both Tatagwa View and the Weyburn General Hospital, increasing the utilities budget as utility costs go up, and increasing the food budget to improve the quality of food provided to long-term care patients.
“While it was sometimes very difficult to stay within those limits, all managers and staff contributed greatly to Sun Country’s strong financial position. Over the years, we continue to work at reducing overtime and sick time costs. We’ve improved efficiency and reduced waste. We have enhanced financial reporting and improved materials management so that managers have up-to-date information with which to monitor their budget and maintain supply controls. This serves to hold Sun Country in good stead as we move forward into the new Saskatchewan Health Authority,” said Knoch.
The board also approved the capital budgets. The Ministry of Health provided $1.325 million for 2017-18, with $305,000 for new or replacement equipment, and $1.02 million for facility renovations or upgrades. Reserves, trust funds and donations are used for specific equipment and certain projects, allowing the health region to complete more projects than budgeted.
