聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 There are some things about the proposed changes to health governance in Saskatchewan that rural people might not like.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Or at least, they might not like them until they can be convinced that one health authority addresses problems in the system that the current 12 boards couldn鈥檛 address.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The first pronouncement of Premier Brad Wall鈥檚 government in 2017 was a big one: a call for the reorganization of the current 12 health regions into a single province-wide health authority.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Unfairly, rural Saskatchewan people are sometimes labelled as resistant to change.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Virtually no other Canadians have seen as much disruption to their communities, economies and very way of life as Saskatchewan rural folk, who have had to adapt to dwindling communities caused by the mechanization of farming.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That said, there are times when rural people have fought hard against changes to their governance structure.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 People lobbied, intensely, against the mere suggestion of changing the existing system of 296 rural municipalities. And opposition to such change hasn鈥檛 always been completely rational.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That said, while there is a 111-year attachment to the existing rural municipal system, the same can鈥檛 be said about the short lifespan of the existing 12 health districts.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In fact, since the demise of the myriad of local hospital and ambulance boards a quarter century ago, the current 12 health regions have often been considered the worst of both worlds.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Regions are too small and powerless to take on the power of government. But they are often too big to represent concerns in specific local communities.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Moreover, if one looks at the borders for the regions, they simply don鈥檛 make any sense.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sticking Moosomin in the Regina Qu鈥橝ppelle Health Region reflects the holus-bolus nature of regions that did not reflect trading areas or neighbouring communities.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And the complaints of overpaid, local administration and endless bureaucracy have been endless.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Of course, it鈥檚 questionable whether the new single authority governance model will achieve the 鈥渟ignificant savings鈥� that health minister Jim Reiter talked about when he announced his government was accepting his independent advisory panel.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 While Reiter did cite savings in information technology, payroll and procurement, and less board management, his government could only quote a $10- to $20-million savings on board governance by 2018 and 2019.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 More recently, the government added that the health departmentspends an estimated $160 million on information technology including the IT system for the current health regions, the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and eHealth. However, its consolidation would only produce savings of about $9 million a year.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In total, that amounts to less than $30 million in savings, which is a drop in the bucket in a health system costing us $5.7 billion annually.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And then there is the fear that when a government talks about 鈥渁malgamation鈥� in health care, it may be talking about hospital closures like the 1992 closure of 52 rural hospitals under the Roy Romanow government.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But Reiter was adamant that what his Saskatchewan Party contemplates聽鈥渋s not a consolidation of the frontline health care.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And if that doesn鈥檛 give rural people solace, there are other things emerging from the panel recommendation that should.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The panel鈥檚 work was largely predicated on the notion that all people in Saskatchewan 鈥� regardless of where they live 鈥� should be entitled to equal health care access.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 With inequitable boards, that didn鈥檛 always happen.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For example, one of the key areas addressed in the panel鈥檚 recommendations is consistency in ambulatory care.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Currently, some towns don鈥檛 have access to paramedics because the health region has deemed that a less affordable expense.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Of course, there are worries. It would help to have independent health ombudsman to arbitrate.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But a single authority mandated to ensure equality may better address such issues.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 One board may just be better than 12.
