Last week’s announcement that Sun Country Health Region CEO Marga Cugnet and vice-president of health facilities Murray Goeres had accepted severance packages is the latest in a series of indicators regarding the impact of transformational change on the province’s health-care sector.
Cugnet’s departure, of course, will get the most attention locally. Not just because she was the Sun Country head honcho, but because she is part of a well-known family in the Weyburn area, and she had a lengthy career in health-care in the province.
The health region CEO position will be a lightning rod for criticism, and Cugnet has certainly received her fair share of it since she was appointed the interim CEO in 2010. (She moved into the role permanently in 2012).
But she also dedicated more than four decades to a sector that can be incredibly stressful, thanks to the pressures and the changes that are constantly taking place.
She’s one of the first CEOs to accept a buyout from the provincial government, but she won’t be the last. Thanks to the provincial government’s plan to have a single health region in Saskatchewan by the end of the year, we can expect more of these in the next few months.
We’re still waiting to see the full ramifications of the switch to the single health authority. It’s the sort of transition that should have people reserving judgement. There are a lot of concerns on how this will impact front line health-care, and whether it will result in the savings of $18 million forecasted by the provincial government.
Some will tell you that this is a horrible idea, that the provincial government went too far with its health region reduction scheme. They believe there should be anywhere from two to five health regions, although many of them wouldn’t have had a problem with the status quo, either.
There are others who will say this is the right move by the government, that a single health region will slash administration costs, and the savings will benefit taxpayers and health-care as a whole.
Ultimately, we don’t know what the benefit will be. But it’s hard to believe the accountability levels and the public engagement will remain the same with one central board and executive staff located in Regina.
Once upon a time, we had small health districts with locally elected trustees. Then we wound up with appointed board members. And then health districts were merged into health regions, and the board members were still appointed.
With each of these steps, the public has felt a little more distant from the people in charge of administration for health-care. That’s not a good thing.
One health region is going to happen, regardless of whether we like it or not. The departure of Cugnet and Goeres is further evidence it’s happening soon.
One health authority feels like it might be too much, too soon.
