The provincial government has announced a new blueprint that will aim to streamline parts of their health care changes — but the new information has led to more questions from health care employees.
The blueprint was unveiled at a press conference Thursday, where Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen called it a rare a look at the process behind government work.
The blueprints laid out changes that will be implemented in waves, with wave one expected to be completed in the next 15 months.
Many of wave one’s plans involve organizations and departments being restructured under a Shared Health umbrella, with an aim to cut inefficiencies and streamline the Manitoba system.
Goertzen said on Thursday that the new blueprint should bring the province more than $60 million in savings.
But after flipping through the dozens of graphs, charts and paragraphs about the changes listed in that blueprint, questions remain about how those savings will be achieved.
Michelle Gawronsky, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) said in a statement the announcement was a let down.
WATCH: MGEU’s president said she has still has lots of questions about the Manitoba health transformation
“We were hopeful that today’s announcement would shed some light on how the government plans to implement all these health care cuts. However, despite a lengthy press release and briefing from health officials we’re left with more questions than answers,” Gawronsky stated.
“The health care system is in chaos right now. There’s no transparency for staff and patients, and it really feels like they are making it up as they go along. Anxiety for front-line health care workers is high as they juggle heavy workloads without knowing what their future holds,” Gawronsky said.
Goertzen held his ground on a promise that frontline workers would still have positions in Winnipeg if they want them, but admitted there would be a number of losses in some departments and restructuring in others, thanks to the new path.
The exact details, and the number of losses, are both still unclear.
And there’s still no information about any possible changes to hospitals in rural Manitoba.
Goertzen said concrete plans would be laid out in “June or July” of this year. When pressed on the issue, Goertzen said that the public would know more about potential closures and job losses in the near future.