Tories order 90 management jobs be cut

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This article was published 15/03/2017 (3176 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After seeing its management ranks double under a decade of NDP rule, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has been told to cut 90 positions by the Pallister government.

Responding to questions in the legislature Tuesday, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the number of WRHA managers nearly doubled from 2006 to 2016 under the NDP government.

In an interview afterwards, Goertzen provided more detail, saying the region’s management complement soared to “just over 600” positions from “just over 300” a decade earlier.

The Progressive Conservatives have served notice the region is to cut management staff by 15 per cent. A plan on how to accomplish that is due by the end of the month.

“I thought a 15 per cent reduction in management, given that context, was reasonable,” Goertzen said of the increase in positions.

“The premier has been really clear that setting the tone at the top is important. So it has to start at the top.”

In total, the province has directed the WRHA to identify $83 million in savings — on a budget of $2.6 billion — by eliminating some programs and improving efficiency in the delivery of others. That plan has to be completed by March 31.

NDP health critic Matt Wiebe said he’s concerned about the effect of the proposed staff cuts. He said Manitoba regional health authority administrative costs have consistently been below the national average.

“We want to see well-managed organizations as well, but we want to see, ultimately, that patient care isn’t affected,” he said.

Under the NDP, the Regional Health Authority Act was amended to ensure that WRHA corporate costs don’t exceed 2.99 per cent of total operating costs in a given year. The Selinger government reduced the number of regional health authorities in Manitoba to five from 11 to cut administrative costs.

Bronwyn Penner Holigroski, a spokeswoman for the WRHA, said the organization is working to achieve the 15 per cent management cut.

“We are currently reviewing which positions will be affected,” she said in an email to the Free Press.

Penner Holigroski said management numbers rose over the last decade as a number of health sites and services in the city “devolved to the WRHA,” meaning their staff and management are now counted as WRHA employees.

She said examples include the Grace Hospital, Victoria General Hospital, Middlechurch Personal Care Home, QuickCare Clinics, the Crisis Response Centre and the Churchill Health Centre, which was formerly part of a separate RHA.

Penner Holigroski said from 2006 to 2016, WRHA administrative costs remained “relatively stable” in percentage terms.

“The WRHA will make every effort to mitigate the impact of this action on our staff and retain an administrative structure that continues to support the delivery of quality health care services,” she said in an email.

“The WRHA, as well as our staff, are committed to the principles of high-quality care, patient safety and accountability. WRHA leadership will remain as transparent as possible throughout this process,” she added.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca