REGINA - Politicians at the Saskatchewan legislature were reacting to the findings of Provincial Auditor Tara Clement in her report submitted this week.
The report, released Wednesday, pointed to particular issues at the Saskatchewan Health Authority. It pointed to the woes SHAmhad in implementing the new AIMS payroll IT system throughout the Health Authority, noting that the initial $86 million cost is expected to balloon to $240 million.
In response to reporters about that finding, the province's Health Minister Everett Hindley said of AIMS that it’s “a very complicated system, it’s replacing 80 different systems across the province, (for) roughly 50,000 employees.”
“A number of different complexities that make this difficult to unroll. It’s not simply, as I understand it, kind of an off-the-shelf system; there’s a number of specific things that have to be tailor-made to address various intricacies of healthcare, payroll, management, and administration. So when the initial rollout was attempted last fall, they were clearly some challenges with that, and our utmost priority is we did not have that impacting the end user,” he said, referring to the staff.
Hindley said there were additional dollars in the budget to address AIMS. As for when the system could finally get rolled out:
“I don’t think we have any dates specifically set yet for the rollout because we want to ensure the next time that we do attempt to roll this out that it is going to work and I think the teams that are working on this have strategy in place to make sure it can be rolled out in such a manner that… if there are problems identified, and I would hope not in this next go-around, but that they are on a limited basis and they can continue to roll it out in pieces and chunks across the province.”
As for the ballooning cost, Hindley acknowledged IT “doesn’t come cheap.” He pointed to the systems in place being 50 years old if not older, for 13 different former health regions. He also pointed to union contracts and the different ways of paying staff around the province, so “it’s a very complex system.”
“Cost is definitely a concern, but doing nothing is also a concern as well,” said Hindley, who noted a lot of the current systems are near the end of life.
Concerns about the waitlists for neurosurgery was also identified in the auditor’s report. Hindley said it was his understanding in his discussions with Dr. Mike Kelly, provincial head of surgery, that “ just wanted to make sure there is some work already underway to address a number of the issues that actually have been identified in the auditor’s report here today. So he’s confident, and I think I share that confidence, that work is underway and I hope we will have a resolution to a number of these recommendations hopefully fairly soon.”
The auditor’s report also pointed to the issue of growing absenteeism among workers in the SHA in the Kindersley area. Hindley said it was his expectation the SHA would accept the recommendations from the Auditor and make the changes.
In speaking to reporters, Health Critic Matt Love was critical of the running of health care in the province, particularly on the AIMS issues.
“You tell me there’s another industry in our province, where the managers in charge go that far over budget, tripling the projected cost, and keep their jobs,” said Love.
As for the claim that it was a complex system being put in, “that was the case when they started,” said Love.
“They knew all of that when they started down this road that it would be complex… and they sold Saskatchewan taxpayers of a cost of $80 million. It’s tripled. Our health care system needs that extra $160 million that should be put into improving care, where people need it, when they need it.”
As for the waitlist in neurosurgeries, Love was critical. He pointed to this news from the auditor’s report coming on the heels of the waitlist for hip and knee replacement, and the word this week that the province would be sending patients to a private clinic in Calgary for mammograms.
“Today from the Auditor, we’ve learned the situation is even worse — that neurosurgeries that folks need, spine surgeries in particular, that the wait times in Regina area have doubled in the last three years. And so the Auditor’s raising the alarm for these wait times because of course many of these people are waiting in pain. Of the 722 people waiting for surgeries, I believe 240 have been waiting over a year while deemed high risk. Those are folks waiting in pain for surgeries, and they’re waiting for one reason only: because this government has failed to plan and invest for the health care that people need.”
