It’s been four months since the provincial government announced its plans to bring all 12 of the health regions in the province into one mega health region.
At the time, they said they hoped the transition would be completed this fall, and based on the announcements that have been made, there’s no reason to believe they are deviating from that timeline.
We know that the mega region’s head offices will be located in Saskatoon, a move that makes sense. It was either going to be in the provincial capital of Regina, or the largest city of Saskatoon, which is more centrally located than Regina.
We have also seen numerous health region administrators, including Sun Country Health Region CEO Marga Cugnet, take a buyout. In Cugnet’s case, it meant retirement, and the end of a 42-year health-care career.
But there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
We don’t know the composition of the new mega health authority’s board. We’re sure there will be a number of rural board members for the authority, but will each city be represented? Will each region have representation at the board table?
Local residents have been critical of Sun Country’s decisions in the past, claiming many of them were slanted towards Weyburn, at Estevan’s expense.
It’s hard to say what the impact would be if Estevan isn’t represented at the new health region’s table, but we’ll certainly be better off if we have a board member.
We also don’t know the administration for this new mega authority. The government says there will be a CEO and a few executives, but we don’t know who they are.
While there will be no shortage of people willing to take on these jobs, we certainly hope they understand the amount of work and the stress these positions will require.
It’s hard enough leading a health region; it’s even more difficult to be the CEO for the Saskatchewan health authority.
We’ll find out later just how much money Saskatchewan will save on administrative costs at a later date, but it should be substantial. The senior managers were very well compensated, and once the buyout process is finished, cost-savings should be realized.
The biggest question won’t be answered for some time: whether Saskatchewan residents will see any changes in terms of the quality of care offered in this province.
The government says we will. They believe some of the reduced spending on administrators will lead to more money in other areas, which will lead to better front-line care.
We’re not convinced. We want to believe Health Minister Jim Reiter when he touts improvements for front line care, but ultimately we’re reserving judgment.
Unions and other groups are certainly skeptical. They point to the experiences and challenges of Alberta in bringing everything together under a single health authority.
There’s also that lingering concern of how these changes will impact rural and remote health-care. Will the board and administration of this new monolithic health authority show the same level of concern for health-care in Midale and Lampman as the Sun Country Regional Health Authority? It’s hard to believe they will.
Some of the questions will be answered in the next few months. But others won’t be answered for at least a few years.
