REGINA – The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses has been outspoken about the province’s Lean program, but this week, allegations arose of nurses being punished for speaking out.
“And concerns also being raised of having social media accounts of nurses being monitored by managers, a completely inappropriate use of health dollars,” added NDP Opposition leader, Cam Broten.
The NDP says all indicators show healthcare is not improving under Lean – and it’s not saving money.
“We have the government’s own data through the Health Quality Council that patient satisfaction is going down, pain management’s going down, infections, in many regions…are going up,” said Broten, statistics the party says can be found on the HQC website.
Despite the recent criticism, the government has defended its $40 million contract with U.S. consultants and saying Lean is paying off. Tuesday afternoon at the annual Healthcare Celebration luncheon in Moose Jaw, officials addressed the future direction of healthcare, centered around Lean. The new Moose Jaw hospital will be the first specifically designed for the program.
“I’ve been in the healthcare system for over 30 years and this is the first positive management technique that I think will work,” said Dr. Fred Wigmore, Interim Senior Medical Officer and Moose Jaw’s Union Hospital.
Far from reprimanding nurses, Five Hills Health Region said they want to hear feedback from front-line workers and understand that it won’t all be positive.
“I think the biggest thing is the amount of change and any time you’re embarking on significant change of processes, that’s hard,” said Cheryl Craig, Five Hills Health Region CEO.
“The other important thing about Lean in terms of improving the quality of the system that we’re able to provide, and the services we’re able to provide, is reducing the errors that happen in the healthcare system,” added health minister Dustin Duncan.
The minister said he’s looking into the criticisms brought forward by SUN and that his top priority is patient safety, but as a philosophy, Lean is here to stay. He added, the Lean program will have to balance patient care and cost effectiveness because continuing to invest more and more in healthcare spending is not sustainable.
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