It’s going to be more than a balancing act over the next 11 months for the governors and administrators within the Sun Country Health Region.
With no discernable increase in revenue, the region’s economic brain trust may be hauling out Plan B, consisting of smoke and mirrors, before they reach next year’s provincial budget and perhaps, some financial relief.
Now, to state Sun Country is being treated unfairly would be incorrect. It appears as if most, if not all of the so-called rural health regions are being required to do more with less during this current fiscal go-around.
Wages are being frozen and some senior management and administration positions, recently vacated, will be left vacant in an attempt to curb expenses while retaining programs. Some of these programs or projects may be reduced in scope to meet the new fiscal realities.
We just hope that patient and client care will not be compromised during this new era of cutbacks. We’d hate to see service reduced because some agency refused to pay overtime or call in replacement employees thanks to budget restraints.
With 17 identified sectors in 28 facilities and 2,400 employees, Sun Country’s $153 million annual budget is no small potatoes. With population increases almost guaranteed, it will be at the very least, a small miracle if the local health region can pull it off.
We might suggest at this point we would also expect to see corresponding cuts and efficiencies applied at the provincial level as well, probably and ironically starting with the Health Ministry’s infamous Lean/Kaizen promotion edifices.
Corresponding three to five per cent cuts at the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) and eHealth that currently cost Sun Country well over $7 million per year, could reduce our regional financial obligations to those agencies without affecting local programs or employment.
We expect the Ministry of Health itself will be displaying fiscal restraint by not filling vacated posts such as associate or assistants to the associates’ associate directors. No, we don’t believe there are such positions, but we trust the Ministry understands the message. There has to be fewer bodies in administration, not more, when the oil money flow lessens in Saskatchewan.
There is also an expectation the discussions regarding the encroachment of private health care programs and facilities, instead of enhancing public health care, will continue with the focus on value received for the money invested. There is the already agreed to knowledge the tight rope that is being walked with a two-tiered health delivery system lends danger to the tight rope walker, which is, in this case, the provincial government and the Health Ministry. When the public sector is robbed of its rightful place so the private system can be paid for its time and attention as well as a profit margin, questions need to be asked and answered. We see our provincial government is well out into the middle of this tight rope walk and we’re anxious to see the likes of Health Minister Dustin Duncan and Premier Brad Wall arrive safely on the other side.
