Sometimes, you have to spend money to save money. That’s the approach Saskatchewan’s Health Ministry is taking in cutting senior management in the new Saskatchewan Health Authority.
“We still don’t know what the ultimate severance number is going to be,” Sask. Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone told reporters Monday in Saskatoon.
So far, the severance bill is $4.1 million. This is split between 11 CEOs and senior vice-presidents from the former 12 regional health authorities. The current top executives in the Sask. Health Authority are a mixture of former regional CEOs, vice-presidents and a couple of outside hires.
There are approximately 50 health region vice-presidents who still need to have their futures, and potential severance packages, determined.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Health Authority launches, replacing 12 provincial health regions
The health authority is entering phase two of their out-of-scope hiring plan. They will soon be posting jobs for executive directors that will report directly to the vice-presidents.
“We expect the cost of severance of other folks within the system is going to take a few months, maybe a little longer depending upon how long it takes to fill the roles within the organization,” Livingstone said.
It is anticipated this phase will be completed in February 2018. At that point, the executive directors will determine how large their teams need to be. Once those jobs are filled, the Sask. Health Authority expects to have completed the formation of their management team.
Health Minister Jim Reiter said there is a severance budget of approximately $19 million. However, that one-time expense is expected to be counteracted by projected annual administration savings of $9 million annually.
“Most of those things, as this was a start-up year, we realized there wouldn’t be a lot of savings in the first year, but subsequent years is where the savings will come,” Reiter said.
READ MORE: Sask. health ministry to pay $1.9 million to 7 health region executives through voluntary separation
Livingstone said that people should not expect to see a difference in how health services are delivered as the amalgamation process takes shape.
However, the Opposition NDP will be on the lookout for issues after both Alberta and Nova Scotia experienced difficulties transitioning to a single health authority.
“This is a government who had a budget just a few months ago where they’ve had to walk everything back, so forgive me for my lack of confidence or trust in this government being able to deliver this well,” health critic Danielle Chartier said.
The SHA officially began operations Dec. 4.