The Northern Health Region (NHR) is cutting seven management positions, including at least one in Flin Flon, complying with provincial orders and raising questions about the impact on patients.
Twyla Storey, communications coordinator for the NHR, confirmed the number of positions being eliminated but would not identify them.
“As you can appreciate, we are a small region from a staff complement perspective and out of respect for the affected individuals, we will not be disclosing the names, positions or locations of the deleted positions,” she said.
Storey did, however, confirm that “Flin Flon is represented” in the seven positions and that six of the seven positions had been “deleted” as of Wednesday, June 7.
“The selection of eliminated positions was done with careful consideration,” she said.
“Staff affected as a result of the management streamlining are being treated respectfully, fairly and in accordance with human resources best practices and applicable legislation.”
The PC government mandated all health regions in the province eliminate
15 per cent of non-unionized management staff. By cutting seven jobs, the NHR has satisfied this mandate.
Storey said the NHR aimed to mitigate impacts on patient care in implementing the reduction.
“Our goal is that there is no impact on patient care services,” she said.
But Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey worries about patients and the economic fallout of the move.
“If you talk to most people, they would think that in management there’s room to trim the fat,” he said. “The downside for all our communities is, anytime you’re cutting positions here in the North, it’s going to be good-paying positions. It’s going to have a detrimental effect on what’s happening in the North. Concern of course is, how will it affect patient care, depending on what the positions are and where they are, and we don’t know any of that yet. There may be impacts that we’re not aware of. We’re already seeing some shortages in front-line staff, so we need to make sure that people have the care they need.”
Lindsey was referring in part to the NHR’s policy of not always replacing the first person in each department to call in sick for the day.
Lindsey’s party, the opposition NDP, said it was working to determine which positions have been cut in the NHR and the other health regions.
The reductions are part of a $6-million spending reduction the NHR is mandated to implement in 2017-18.
Asked whether city council has a position on the reductions, Flin Flon mayor Cal Huntley said council had not had a chance to digest the matter.
“Once we have reviewed it, we’re going to comment on it,” he said, speaking at council’s Tuesday, June 6 meeting. “Our expectation, speaking for the City of Flin Flon, is that we certainly expect the level of care and service that we’re getting to be maintained. We understand what’s going on throughout the province and everything like that, and understand the intent, but the core services need to be maintained here.”
The provincial mandate to reduce management staff will see at least 189 positions across Manitoba eliminated, according to CBC. Seventy per cent of those positions are within the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
