Efforts are being made to give some northern Saskatchewan health workers more confidence in reporting mistakes or close calls on the job.
CEO Richard Petit of the Keewatin Yatthe Regional Health Authority says a “no blame, no shame” approach is what they are striving for.
In a recent release, the health authority talks about creating a culture in which mistakes impacting patients or employee safety are reported without fear of reprisal.
It comes in the midst of a recent incident in which two paramedics in Beauval were fired for apparently falsifying attendance records for financial gain.
Petit says it us incidents like this the health region is trying to change.
He adds more people are speaking up about concerns and KYRHA is doing root cause analysis of those issues.
It also recently came to light that Health Canada has filed a $355,000 lawsuit against the region for improper charging of the Non-Insured Health Benefits plan.
However, Petit says the matter is being negotiated and he’s doubtful any court action will be launched:
“Health Canada had to put in a statement of claim, because it had been so long since we had been working on this together to negotiate a fair settlement — it had to go to a statement of claim. So I don’t think they have any intention of going to court. They want to settle this, and so do we . . . so we’re negotiating.”
He adds the health region and the government have been in negotiations for years.
Meantime, Petit says his organization is trying to cut costs in the wake of a $338,000 first quarter budget deficit.
He says sick leave and overtime are some of the main culprits.
The health region currently leads the province in sick time hours.
Petit says some of this is explained by employee travel. He notes if a worker has a one-day appointment in Saskatoon, it can result in a three-day trip.
He says they have since implemented an attendance management program to try and get more people back to work.
Petit also notes that, since July, they have begun to shrink the deficit:
“July’s report is that we’re in a positive statement. So, we’re making progress on reducing the deficit. In the July statement, we’ve actually lowered that by $80,000 — so our plans are to remove the deficit by the end of the year and be on a balanced budget.”