Health Reform in Saskatchewan: Digging Holes in the Ground |
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By Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, October 22, 1999 |
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In Saskatchewan we don't have a vision for health(1) and we don't have The | |
short-term management of confusion |
Saskatchewan Way either. What we have is an undemocratic government who |
unable to direct our economic system is spearheading a short-term management of | |
confusion and restructuring where only the strongest, the biggest, the most powerful | |
and the most reactionary survive. In this environment, the secret to survival is not in | |
creating wealth, but in having more taxpayer money to dig holes in the ground But | |
to dig holes in the ground is not an easy proposition for this government; in fact, the | |
digging must be justified by serious and expensive researches. Such researches not only | |
has to firstly justify the digging of the biggest and deepest hole in the ground, but later | |
they must conduct comparative studies to check if more money can be saved by digging | |
more holes over the alternative of digging fewer and deeper holes. | |
The biggest and deepest hole in the ground was conceptualized in 1995 when | |
the largest information technology ever mandated in the province |
Saskatchewan Health and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations |
presented the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN) as "...the largest | |
information technology ever mandated in the province...". The integrity of the SHIN | |
project was supported by a research conducted by Ernst & Young which identified | |
paper savings in the order of $58 to $114 Million. | |
The most recent proposals for digging holes in the ground have been expressed by the | |
having full-service regional hospitals |
wish of Pat Atkinson, Minister of Health, to have fewer and fully appointed health boards |
and by Jim Melenchuk, Minister of Education, who wants to cut the 25,000 people on | |
elective surgical waiting lists by having full-service regional hospitals and by taking money | |
away from SHIN. The eventual bigness and depth of these proposed holes will be a | |
matter of debate and compromise since many agencies are asking for more money from the | |
government | |
The government has specifically planned the downsizing of our healthcare people> on | |
healthcare will continue to deteriorate |
behalf of capital projects such as SHIN, and now it is experiencing the highest |
percentage governmental expenditure in health care. The government doesn't know that | |
people are the only creative resource, and as long as restructuring and obsolete capital | |
projects are put before people, healthcare will continue to deteriorate and biased | |
researches will no longer salvage these policies and this government. | |
------------Endnotes: | |
The Saga of Health Reform: Pat Atkinson Wants Fewer Health Boards and Fully Appointed Boards, by Mario deSantis, October 17, 1999 | |
The Saskatchewan Way by Timothy W. Shire, August 26, 1999 | |
Governmental coalition in saskatchewan: a private contractual deal at the expense of the electorate? By Mario deSantis, October 4, 1999 | |
Conversation Paper on Economic Policies: Meeting of July 15, 1996 between Brian Rourke, Chairperson of SAHO, Arliss Wright, President and CEO of SAHO, and Mario deSantis of DigiCare. http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/Paper-ConversationSAHO-Jl12-96.htm | |
Managing Information Technology-A Vision for the Future-Information Technology Architecture. Page 1.2, Saskatchewan Health, April 1995. Also, refer to 1995 Saskatchewan Health & SAHO request of proposal for SHIN | |
A Historical Perspective of The Saskatchewan Health Information Network, by Mario deSantis and James deSantis, March 1998 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/paper-SHIN.htm | |
Review of Economic Soundness of the Implementation of the Saskatchewan Healthcare Systems Architecture, by Mario deSantis, June 21, 1995 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/paper-HealthRefSystArchB-Jn21-95.htm | |
Health reform lurks, by Mark Wyatt, The StarPhoenix, October 14, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |
Liberal health plan a go? by James Parker, The StarPhoenix, October 19, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |
What Happened to the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN)? By Mario deSantis, June 11, 1999 | |
The Regina Health Board, after overspending some $40 Million for hospitals' renovation and experiencing an operational deficit of $4.7 Million, is asking for more money from the government. CBC Radio, John Weidlich, October 20, 99 http://www.sask.cbc.ca/radio/index-news.html | |
The Saskatchewan Government and SAHO: Mismanaging Health Care and Blackmailing SUN Nurses, by Mario deSantis, May 9, 1999 | |
Technological Changes In Saskatchewan Health Care: An Abysmal Disaster, by Mario deSantis, May 27, 1999 | |
Business Process Reengineering from the Perspective of Competitive Advantage, by Edwin B. Dean http://mijuno.larc.nasa.gov/dfc/bpre.html | |
Fragmented Research Come To The Help Of Sasktchewan Reform, by Mario deSantis, September 28, 1999 |