REGINA – In the latest report card on use of public money, Saskatchewan’s provincial auditor Judy Ferguson says the way Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region discharges patients from hospitals can have negative impacts on their health.
“It’s important that people understand what’s working there and what isn’t working,” Ferguson said.
In the first volume of Ferguson’s 2015 report, she says better policies for patient discharge would “reduce the risk of re-admissions and achieve better health outcomes for patients.” The report also notes the increased financial costs of preventable re-admissions.
The auditor references reports from Ontario and Australia that suggest the longer someone is hospitalized, the higher their risk of hospital-acquired infections, and the greater their decline in physical and mental abilities due to lack of activity.
Discharge information is even more important, Ferguson says, when the Regina Qu’Appelle model is being adopted around the province.
The health region is already updating its model, according to Dawn Calder, RQHR’s acting VP of integrated health services.
“Patients are always discharged with a list of medications, but we’d agree, that’s not sufficient,” Calder said.
The report also highlights how critical timely discharge is to making emergency beds available to reduce wait times. Numbers from the Canadian Institute for Health Information showed Regina and Saskatoon hospitals had among the longest ER wait times in Canada.
P3s: value for money
The 2015 provincial auditor’s report also evaluates Saskatchewan’s approach to public-private partnership (P3) evaluations.
Ferguson says SaskBuilds, which manages infrastructure projects, needs to specify the minimum amount of savings a P3 build must provide before signing an agreement. “Setting such an amount would recognize the significant uncertainties in cost estimates,” the report says.
The minister responsible for SaskBuilds, Gord Wyant, says the government is working to provide that information on a more timely basis – which didn’t happen in the case of a P3-funded long-term care facility under construction in Swift Current.
“Our goal will be to release those value-for-money reports publicly within the 120 days,” Wyant said. “In terms of the Swift Current project, being our first report, we wanted to make sure we got that report right.”
P3s have been used in several projects including nine new joint-use schools expected to open in 2017.
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