A memo from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is calling on staff to leave issues out of meeting minutes “if you don’t want to see it in the newspaper.”
The Saskatchewan NDP said it obtained the Sept. 24 memo, titled “Corporate Citizenship,” through a freedom of information (FOI) request.
Opposition leader Ryan Meili called it a “hush memo” meant to dissuade healthcare workers from speaking out about concerns they may have.
The SHA memo says there had been “a number of instances of challenging that have not met communications standards.”
The memo lists three instances in its “background” section. This includes:
- An FOI request for a department’s meeting minutes that included information the SHA said should remain confidential. The SHA memo said that information was in relation to the “personal employment or PSA [Practioner Staff Affairs] file of individuals.
- Physician leaders talking with external agencies without first telling SHA communications. The memo says this could lead to “discordant messaging. Agencies the SHA memo lists as examples include the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (the provincial regulatory body for doctors), the ministry, foundations and the media.
- Doctors using SHA letterhead requesting additional resources for their departments from both the provincial and federal governments. The memo says there are formalized SHA mechanisms to request resources, and personal advocacy requests should not include SHA resources.
The memo says all physician leader communication should be in line with SHA policy and values, whether internal or external.
The memo concludes by saying staff should be mindful of what is included in meeting minutes and official communications, as those are subject to FOI requests. This is where the newspaper line is used.
According to Meili, this memo went out to physicians.
“It generally sent a pretty clear message; don’t be out there advocating for patients in any public way without running it through us first,” Meili said.
“I think that’s a very dangerous message to be sending to physicians that they can’t advocate on behalf of their patients, and it’s very consistent with what we’ve heard.”
Meili added he heard concerns, both when he was practicing medicine and as a politician, about people worried about reprisals if they publicly raised issues with healthcare such as dismissal or loss of funding. The Opposition leader said the same worry exists in social services and education.
“There was no talk of consequences in the memo, this is what we hear in conversations all the time. This is one of the challenges we face. People want to tell the stories of what’s going on… and they tell us ‘we’re afraid we won’t be employed anymore,'” Meili said.
Health Minister Jim Reiter said he was unaware of this memo until Meili raised it in question period on Tuesday. The minister said the contents were not a directive from himself or the premier and he doesn’t want to see doctors “muzzled.”
“I think it was poorly worded in a few places,” Reiter said. “I’m going to talk to the CEO of the SHA and ask him to absolutely clarify that the intent is not to muzzle doctors from advocating or speaking out. That’s never been the case.”
Specific items Reiter said he wants more clarification on include worries about issues reaching the press and discussions with external agencies.
The minister added that he agreed personal information shouldn’t be disclosed through meeting minutes, but this type of information would be redacted as part of the standard procedures of an FOI request.
As for not using SHA letterhead to personally advocate for issues, Reiter said it’s common for large organizations to want consistent messaging and he meets with physicians regularly to talk about their personal concerns.
The SHA faced criticism in August for issuing a tender to develop a “whistleblower hotline.” The stated goal was to allow for anonymous reporting of “employees and others are suspected of violating SHA policies, codes of conduct, or legal requirements.”
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The tender was withdrawn one day after the story broke.
SHA responded to Global News’ request for a comment about the memo on Tuesday evening.
“The intent of the memo was to ensure that any publicly accessible documents follow privacy legislation. The intent was also to remind physicians to be clear on whether or not they are speaking on behalf of the SHA or as an individual clinician on behalf of their patients,” read the SHA’s statement.
“The SHA does not have a policy, nor was there ever any intent, to restrict staff or physicians from exercising their right to free speech.”
“We recognize additional clarity is required. We will be working in the following days to ensure staff and physicians are clear on the intent of this memo.”
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