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Prairie North CEO hopes health care authority review happens soon

Jun 2, 2016 | 6:00 AM

The CEO of the Prairie North Health Region hopes a review of health care delivery provides some answers, while not taking too long.

The provincial government’s 2016-17 budget announced a commission will be appointed to review the current system of 12 regional health authorities, and whether that number should be reduced.

“It is a fair initiative,” David Fan said. “I think it is needed from time to time, to allow us to examine how we have been delivering care, how are we structured, is it doing what it is supposed to do?”

In addition to questions about the number of health regions, he hopes it can address whether there are some services that would be more logically delivered on a province-wide basis, or if there are better ways to provide them.

Fan hopes the process doesn’t drag out.

“Every time you do that, you create significant anxiety throughout the system,” he said. “It creates disruption to the current processes and how people are going about doing their work. While it is important to do this kind of review from time to time, I think it needs to happen as quickly as possible so it gives some sense of stability to the system, so that people know their place in life.”

Fan speaks from experience. He recalled the creation of 32 health districts in 1993, as well as the 2002 process that collapsed them to the current 12 regions. Serving Lloydminster also puts Fan in regular contact with Alberta Health Services, the single health region created in 2008 to serve all of Alberta.

“Like every system there are good things and there are challenges as well, and hopefully we can learn from Alberta and maybe other jurisdictions, not only in Canada but also in the rest of the world,” he said. He added he had no pre-conceived ideas of what might happen, but hoped to hear from residents and health providers during the process.

Fan said the budget would be a tough one. While base funding is increasing $8 million to over $220 million, it would mostly go to pay for increases in the region’s collective bargaining agreements and fees to physicians, along with a small amount for inflation.

He didn’t know how much of the funding increases announced for surgical wait times and diagnostic services would be earmarked for Prairie North. There was also no indication of what the authority’s share would be of $7.5 million in administrative costs the government promised to reallocate to front-line services in long-term care.

 

gsmith@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @smithco