With the release of the 2017-18 provincial budget, health authorities in Saskatchewan are prepared to meet the challenge of carrying on with providing health-care, in the face of limited financial resources and growing demand. Saskatchewan will invest $5.2 billion this year, in core health services and infrastructure. The 2017-18 budget has seen a modest increase of $38.6 million (0.7 per cent) from the previous year. Greg Hoffort, executive director of St. Joseph’s Hospital, said in response to the budget, that the hospital will be looking to do things as efficiently as possible, and is planning what that will entail, specifically in relation to resources allocated through the budget. “There certainly won’t be an increase for St. Jo
seph’s Hospital. It’s going to be another tough fiscal year, and that was expected, with the state of the provincial economy,” said Hoffort. “We certainly didn’t expect a large budget increase. We’ll be working diligently to find ways to balance the budget, here at St. Joseph’s.” Hoffort said that a downsizing in the workforce at St. Joseph’s has taken place over the last couple of years. Measures the hospital is undergoing
to weather financial uncertainty include a hiring freeze, replacing frontline positions, and holding off on hiring, with some positions that become vacant. “We have reduced some positions that were manager or working manager positions; we have some full-time positions that are now part-time positions,” said Hoffort. “We have minimized layoffs whenever possible. Our strategy now, and moving forward, is to minimize layoffs.” Hoffort noted that St. Joseph’s will be working to do more, with less, at every opportunity, in an ongoing effort to increase efficiency. “It’s an ongoing effort, and the budget certainly wasn’t a good news budget. It’s not like we just started working on this at the drop of the budget either,” said Hoffort. “We’ve been doing this for months and years, so it certainly didn’t catch us by surprise.”
He added, “The situation is less than ideal, but our goal is to make the services that are required by our community available, and we’re confident we will continue to do so.” Marga Cugnet, CEO of Sun Country Health Region is optimistic about the results of the provincial budget drop last week. Cugnet said the health region is happy with the “comfortable amount” it has received, adding, “It will, at least, be a status quo budget.” Regional health authorities will receive $3.4 billion in funding this year, which constitutes an increase of 1.2 per cent over last year. “From a health region’s perspective, we’re pleased with the funding we received this year,” said Cugnet. “We’re feeling pretty relieved that with all the pressures going on, that health did not receive
a significant cut.” Another point of gratitude Cugnet expressed was the fact that there is little in the way of changes to funding, with an already significant change on the horizon: Saskatchewan’s plans to amalgamate all its health regions into one provincial health authority. “At least there aren’t two major changes going on at the same time,” she said. Cugnet noted that most of the increased funding will go toward honouring
the collective bargaining agreement coming into effect on April 1, and that the increase unfortunately won’t cover any of the other increased expenses incurred by the region. The only programs Cugnet expects to see funding reductions in are the podiatry and parent mentoring programs, programs for which there will be increased fees. She noted that the health region will work with patients affected by such changes, finding alternative ways to maintain patient access to those services. “We’ll have to make some tweaks in the budget, but we don’t have to make any major changes. We’re pleased that we’ll be able to sustain services, for the most part, that we are providing now,” said Cugnet. “I think it’s going to be challenging to balance our budget, but it’s something we are able to manage.”
