The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Northern Manitoba's two major regional health authorities will merge in a surprise cost-cutting move that is raising plenty of questions. The new provincial budget, unveiled Tuesday, confirmed that the Flin Flon-based NOR-MAN RHA and the Thompson-based Burntwood RHA will amalgamate this year. 'There will be no reduction in front-line staff,' Health Minister Theresa Oswald told a media conference call. 'There will be no layoffs of doctors and nurses like we've seen in times gone by during uncertain economic times. We are absolutely committed to maintaining, or growing indeed, our front-line providers.' The NOR-MAN-Burntwood amalgamation is one of five RHA mergers being imposed across Manitoba in a bid to save money on executive staff and board costs. The Northern Health Region, as it will be called, will be formed this year, though a precise date is not known. 'We could see the mergers happen in earnest within a month, to be honest,' Oswald said. Address problems Oswald was clear that work to address problems within the NOR-MAN RHA _ the subject of a detailed review she ordered last year _ would continue. 'We know that the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority has undergone a recent review,' she said, 'and indeed under the leadership of (CEO) Helga Bryant has been making exceptional strides in addressing some issues that were very serious, and we don't want to lose any of that momentum.' Oswald said care would also be taken to ensure northerners do not lose the voice within health care that RHAs were designed to give them. She said community consultations will be held and the presence of community advisory groups 'will be a critically important part of maintaining the citizens' point of view in health planning, in health assessing and moving forward.' 'We're going to do a consultation so that unique issues that will occur in the North will be addressed in a way that's appropriate for the North,' Oswald added. 'We need to develop economies of scale, but we have to make sure that citizens maintain that voice and that say, and we're committed to doing that.' At this stage, numerous questions about the new Northern Health Region remain open. See 'Head...' on pg. 7 COntinued from pg. 1 It is not clear, for instance, whether the organization will be based in Flin Flon, Thompson or another location such as The Pas. Nor is it known whether NOR-MAN RHA CEO Helga Bryant, Burntwood CEO Gloria King or some other individual will lead the new agency. And how many seats will Flin Flon have on the new board of directors? That too is yet to be determined. What is definite is that the Northern Health Region will cover about 61 per cent of Manitoba's land mass and service some 73,000 people. Excluding hamlets, cottage settlements and Saskatchewan towns near the Manitoba border, it will provide care to 46 communities. The Region will encompass all of northern Manitoba except Churchill, whose tiny RHA is being merged with the Winnipeg RHA, as the two bodies are already closely connected. Flin Flon resident and former Liberal MLA candidate Tom Heine, who has been highly critical of the NOR-MAN RHA, said it's too early to know whether the merger is good or bad. 'I'm very neutral because how it's all going to shake out, I don't know,' he said. Heine, chair of the local Concerned Citizens Health Care Committee, called it 'odd' that regional health care will evidently be under 'more central control.' 'But with central control you have consistent standards applied across the entire region,' he said, 'and that seems to be one of the things that fell down with the establishment of the RHA system of doing things.' Regardless of the outcome of the amalgamation, Heine said he still has concerns over the structure of regional health agencies. 'Buffer' He said the organizations provide a 'buffer between the minister of health and the actual delivery of health care,' with 'flack catchers still in the middle.' By merging RHAs, the NDP government expects to eliminate 30 to 35 executive positions and more than half of the RHA boards. From that the province expects to save $10 million over the next three years, cash it says will go into hospitals, fast-access clinics and access centres. RHA boards are being asked to approve the mergers by way of vote, but even if they refuse, the province will force the amalgamations. The mergers will leave Manitoba with five health regions compared to 11 at present. Other than the Northern Health Region, they are the Western Health Region (merger of the Assiniboine, Brandon and Parkland RHAs); Eastern Health Region (Interlake and North Eastman RHAs); Southern Health Region (Central and South Eastman RHAs); and Winnipeg Health Region. Manitoba formed RHAs in 1997 under then-premier Gary Filmon.
