How well a food dish has been prepared and put together is shown in the eating, or as the saying goes, “The proof is in the pudding.” Thus it is with Saskatchewan’s health care system, which as of Monday morning was completely under one provincial board, the Saskatchewan Health Authority, or SHA for short.
The province has been touting this as some magical new way to do things, even provincially-based boards like this have not worked in other provinces.
This move has been taken in spite of the fact that it has been shown, over and over and over, that bigger is not better and does not make things more efficient, nor does it save any money. This has never worked here in Saskatchewan, and yet the government is bent on making boards bigger and bigger in some kind of insane attempt to keep control in Regina, and out of the hands of local representatives. The government wanted to do the same with school boards, but backed down when the voice of protest was made that local representation was the best way to go in education.
In the case of the health board, there hasn’t been any locally-elected or chosen representatives for years, but the trustees have been people appointed by the province — but at least, these were local people, and if anyone had concerns or issues to raise, they could call their local representative to have the matter addressed.
The problem will now be there is only one local resident who is on the provincial board, Marilyn Charlton. For the time being, local administration will still be running the day-to-day operations of health care facilities, looking after the staff and patients at the local level. And, the claim is, local residents should see no real difference in how they access and receive health care, and the process should be seamless.
Will it actually work that way? Will issues and concerns from rural areas receive any attention whatsoever? The provincial board will have a committee that looks after rural health care, and one that looks after urban health care — the question is, with a committee that looks after rural health care for the entire province, how is the concern from say, Fillmore or Pangman, stack up against the concerns raised from, say, Lestock or Assiniboia or Hepburn?
Looking at all of the municipalities involved, rural and urban, is overwhelming when one considers that it comes down to one body looking after all of it. Even under Sun Country, it covered a huge area, but now the fear of residents in the towns and farms is going to be, “Who’s going to hear me? Who’s going to listen?” — Greg Nikkel
