The official opposition is demanding an investigation into the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s payroll system.
Both the NDP and the province’s nurses union said the system has caused nothing but problems since it was rolled out.
“Stuff like this are (the) reasons that we have some of the worst retention rates for health care workers in the entire country,” said Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck.
The NDP said the recent payroll issues for health-care workers in Saskatchewan is only “causing more chaos” in the stressed system and it is calling on the province to conduct an investigation.
“We need that investigation to be able to know what’s went wrong, what needs correcting, and how deep the problems go. There’s been such a lack of transparency on this. We need to open that up,” said Vicki Mowat, health critic.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority rolled out a new administrative information management system over two months ago. The NDP said it has obtained a copy of a memo in which the SHA tells physicians that some staff are still not getting paid on time.
The same system was launched in 2021, but was quickly reversed due to issues.
Beck said the frustration comes on top of a health-care workforce that already feels ignored, disrespected, overworked and burned out. “And now they can’t even get paid on time.”
Global News reached out to the SHA about the memo, and was directed to the company behind AIMS, 3sHealth.
In a statement, 3sHealth acknowledges the rollout has caused frustration and said it is working on the issues, adding that a small number of invoices have been delayed.
“Health system leaders want to acknowledge that the AIMS rollout has caused some frustration for end users and employees. We are highly committed to resolving the remaining issues as soon as possible,” 3sHealth said.
“A small number of physician invoices have been delayed during the transition. Some payments are already flowing and the remaining ones being processed.”
The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses said that it’s heard from around 300 nurses who have experienced issues, and that the new system is also causing problems with patient care.
“On a busy unit, rather than having to go through the old way where it was just a phone call to say we need more supplies, the whole thing’s turned into chaos, and it’s actually starting to affect patient care,” said Tracy Zambory union president.
The union also said there is no easy way for staff to report issues.
“There is no human being at the end of the day that you can actually speak to. And the advice given is that just continue to submit your issue,” Zambory said.
The project’s cost was originally estimated at $86 million but has since escalated to $240 million.
— with Files from Nicole Healey, Global News