Saskatchewan’s provincial auditor’s report landed in the legislative assembly on Wednesday, highlighting some of the province’s most concerning industries.
Out of 179 industries looked at by auditor Tara Clemett, 10 agencies brought up cause for concern, including the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Social Services, the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and Education.
Saskatchewan’s auditor said wait times for people to receive spine and brain surgeries have spiked.
In her report released Wednesday, Clemett said 722 people have been waiting for a neurosurgeon, and about one-third of them have been waiting for more than a year.
She said the wait list for spine surgery in Regina has doubled over the past year, while the wait list in Saskatoon has stayed the same.
Clemett said people who wait longer for surgery are at greater risk of worsening health conditions.
She recommended the province develop a plan to reduce the wait list, which includes changing the referral process and scheduling for doctors.
Saskatchewan Health Minister Everett Hindley said there is already work underway to address the auditor’s recommendations.
“I hopefully will have a resolution to a number of these recommendations fairly soon. The Ministry of Health and the SHA accept the recommendations and we will be working to implement any changes to improve the system,” Hindley said at the legislature on Wednesday.
He said he did not know what steps would be taken or the specifics as to the current work being done.
Clemett’s report also highlighted missed performance targets by private operators of special care homes in Saskatoon and surrounding areas.
She found that results for special-care homes in the Saskatoon area worsened in three areas, including daily physical restraints, use of antipsychotics and newly occurring pressure ulcers.
“For example, the number of residents on antipsychotic drugs without a diagnosis did not meet the expected target of 27 per cent. This is often an indicator that special-care home staff chemically manage their residents,” read the report.
Clemett said the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s failure to address special care homes’ non-compliance will negatively impact residents’ quality of life.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority also went nearly $78 million over budget on a project that failed to be implemented on time.
A new IT system for the authority was originally supposed to launch in March 2021 and cost $86 million. By March 2023, the system was still not up and running after the prolonged implementation date of November 2022 hit a roadblock.
“There has been additional dollars put into this year’s budget to further advance this and I don’t think we have any dates specifically set yet on the rollout because we want to ensure that the next time we do attempt it that it is going to work,” Hindley said.
According to the Ministry of Health and the authority, the system implementation is now forecasted to cost $240 million.
“By not learning from project failures, government agencies can be destined to repeat similar situations and incur significant cost overruns,” read the report.
Hindley estimated that the program could roll out next year.
Clemett’s report showed that the Ministry of Social Services lost over $7 million as a result of inconsistent recording and recovery of Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) overpayments.
The auditor also found three instances where the Ministry of Social Services paid shelter benefits at incorrect rates.
In one instance, the ministry underpaid a family on SIS by $400. Two other incidents showed clients didn’t provide the correct documentation, resulting in overpayments of $7,000 in shelter benefits.
At least eight files of overpayments weren’t recorded at all.
“The Ministry of Social Services continued to inconsistently record, and inadequately
recover, Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) Program overpayments during 2022–23,” read the report.
The auditor recommended that the Ministry of Social Services record and recover overpayments related to the SIS program in a timely manner.
The report also said the Ministry of Social Services has more work to do when it comes to investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect.
In 2022-23, the ministry received more than 19,000 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect.
Only 38 per cent of the reports resulted in investigation and not all were completed within the 45-day window that is required.
Clemett recommended that the ministry attempt to make face-to-face contact with the child and family involved in a reported child abuse and neglect allegation within a required timeframe. Family risk assessments were also recommended to be completed.
Clemett’s report also highlighted growing issues for mental health patients in Prince Albert, Sask., about 140 kilometres north of Saskatoon, where the number of detox patients reporting they’re homeless has spiked.
“The new Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan ties in directly with the new provincial approach to homelessness so we are not only identifying some of these gaps but … providing supports and services to these individuals so we help them get on a pathway to recovery and bettering their lives,” Hindley said.
Other concerns brought up in the report centered around the conservation of Crown land, the regulation of waste through recycling, and health employee absences in Kindersley and surrounding areas.
The auditor also had several issues with the Western Development Museum, the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, Government Relations’ Northern Municipal Trust Account, and the Ministry of Highways.
The full report with detailed concerns regarding the remaining areas can be found on the auditor’s website.
– With files from the Canadian Press.
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