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 Irate complaints and heated accusations put the NRHA on the defensive last week as officials sought to assure the public that their health care is improving. From a diabetic who said he was turned away from the hospital to suggestions the ER is improperly staffed, the public forum escalated into a hostile critique of the NRHA and its leaders. 'You are a great speaker (but) you never, ever answer any questions,' an angry Tom Heine told NRHA CEO Helga Bryant at the height of the tension. The forum was ostensibly held so Bryant could update the public on progress made in meeting recommendations stemming from last year's external review of the NRHA. While most of the 40-plus attendees at the City Hall Council Chambers were quiet observers, several _ including now-familiar critics of the NRHA _ were compelled to speak out. Visibly upset, a local diabetic who requires dialysis told Bryant he was informed there is no room for him at the hospital and that he must go to The Pas. Bryant acknowledged 'space challenges' at the hospital but said a provincial official would soon be visiting 'to look at our space and some of the concerns.' 'We recognize the need and we will continue to work to try to fix these irritants,' she said. That prompted a blunt response from the man: 'That's more than an irritant. That's death. If I don't get it, I die.' Long-time resident Don Raddysh said he has waited more than two months to see a surgeon without hearing anything from the NRHA. See 'It's...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 He said such waits did not happen years back when Flin Flon had 12,000 people. 'You can't expect the same level of service when you had 12,000 people and to maintain it with (5,000) _ it's a dollars and cents thing,' replied Cal Huntley, vice-chair of the NRHA board, who was also on hand. Huntley said Flin Flon is 'not unique with regards to the waiting times for operations and how serious the operation is and whether you get bumped one way or the other.' 'And we've all experienced it, myself included,' he said. Raddysh implied he preferred the pre-RHA system when the Flin Flon General Hospital was operated by a local board of directors unconcerned with other communities in the region. Sympathize Huntley said he sympathizes with that position but noted that with RHAs now established, the board's job is to work within the system to achieve improvements. From a rear row of chairs, Sue Chrisp demanded to know how many patients per day the salaried physicians at the NRHA Medical Clinic are required to see. While there was apparently at one time a specific figure attached to doctors' contracts, Bryant said the latest deal between Manitoba Health and the provincial doctors' union calls only for 'a reasonable number' of patients. Heine, chair of the local Concerned Citizens Health Care Committee, came armed with both criticisms and charges. He claimed the NRHA is 'contravening some of the regulations' by employing a doctor with a conditional license as head of the Flin Flon ER. A conditional license does not prevent a physician from working with patients, nor does it necessarily mean the doctor has inferior skills. But Heine said such doctors are not supposed to be the head of a department. In response, Bryant said 'there a number of ways in which we schedule physicians that is probably not as ideal as it should be.' Bryant said that 'as we continue to do things in a way that meets agreements, meets contracts, we don't have enough bodies to meet every need.' This shortage of personnel is one reason she said she looks forward to the NRHA's amalgamation with the Burntwood RHA out of Thompson. 'They have a significant menu of physicians, surgeons and other specialists,' Bryant said. '...and that's part of the point of amalgamating the regions, is that we weren't sharing that expertise between and among regions. We just simply did not have enough people to take those leadership roles.' Adding that 'there are challenges' and 'structures that are not as effective as they could be,' Bryant said 'we have some staff that perhaps aren't always in the right positions.' 'We need to do some shifting there and we really look forward to an opportunity to at least learn from Burntwood if not potentially share (staff),' she said. Surgeons here A comment from one person in the crowd about the hospital lacking surgeons was met with a rebuttal from Lois Moberly, director of clinical services. 'There may be a few hours sometimes between their travel times that we may not have a surgeon, but we generally have a surgeon here more than not,' she said. Talk turned back to physician contracts, with Dennis Ballard asking whether it is the NRHA or the province that insists on placing doctors on salary rather than paying them for the number of patients they see. Bryant said the NRHA plays a role but some physicians like being on salary because they do not always see adequate income in a fee-for-service contract. But as a doctor's patient load grows, she said, discussions begin around getting him or her on a fee-for-service contract. Bryant said one doctor at the NRHA clinic has switched to fee-for-service while talks are ongoing with others. In terms of general patient complaints, Bryant said they are handled by chiefs of staff at each site. If the complaints go beyond what the NRHA can 'explore,' she said, they go to Manitoba's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
