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No quick cure for hospital crisisWHA has $70-million wish list of needsto get hospitals running properlyBy Doug Nairn©Legislature ReporterTHERE WILL be no quick cure for the troubled health-care system.In an interview with the Free Press, the head of the Winnipeg Hospital Authority said that even with sweeping reforms and millions of dollars in new spending, the ongoing crisis will not end anytime soon.Gordon Webster said it will take several years of continued upheaval and reorganization before problems such as plugged up emergency rooms and staff shortages are resolved.Even then, he said, more radical surgery may be required before the health-care system starts to function properly.In the meantime, patients, their families and frustrated health-care workers will have to continue to suffer through the growing pains as improvements slowly take hold.“I committed to this job for a minimum of five years, and I intend to have the system in place and running by the time I leave, said Webster, who is 18 months into his mandate.“But these changes will not happen overnight.”Charged with reorganizing and running the city’s nine hospitals, the WHA has a $70-miilion wish list of programs. Webster said the list is a collection of what heaith-care professionals in the city say needs to be done to get the hospitals running properly.So far, the government has provided $31 million to fund the highest priority programs.Yesterday, Health Minister Darren Praznik said there will be money in the next budget to pay for more of ' the WHA plan. He said how much more is spent depends on what Ottawa decides to do with restoringtransfer payments, and how muchthe Filmon government decides it can afford.“The more money the federal government makes available, the more we will have to spend,” Praznik said.Going into an election year, the government is well aware that the Opposition New Democrats intend to make the problems in hospitals a major issue with voters.Yesterday, NDP Leader Gary Doer used the second anniversary ofPraznik’s appointment to the health portfolio to demand that Premier Gary Filmon take control of the health minister’s job himself.“After three failed health ministers under Mr. Filmon, our healthcare system is in worse shape than ever,” Doer charged.“This level of suffering is unconscionable. It’s time that the one who’s been really making the decisions about our health system for the past decade is held to account publicly for this horrendous situation.”Another major problem looming for the WHA is replacing the obsolete computer systems used in hospitals. Webster said the hospitals are using equipment that is incompatiblewith the other facilities and hopelessly obsolete. An upgrade to a modern system will cost an estimated $60 million.Webster said some of the computers are so outdated, the Y2K bug is not even a problem because the computers pre-date the faulty programming.But dumping more money into the system won’t provide immediate relief, either. Webster said the effects of decisions made by the provincial government in the early 1990s are still being felt years later. He said delays in constructing longterm care facilities, for example, have contributed to the hospital bed shortages, and labour problems and layoffs have made it difficult to find staff now that programs are being expanded. .While hundreds of new long-term car^beds have been announced for Winnipeg, it takes time to construct buildings and find new staff. It is estimated that it will take up to 18 months before the effect of the additional beds, many of which still only exist on paper, is fully felt.Webster said the WHA only has funding for about 40 per cent of its wish list of programs, but is already stretched to its limit trying to implement the approved changes. He said that even if the province gave him enough money to pay for all the new programs, the hospitals don’t have the ability to make the changes all at once.Still, Webster said improvements need to be made now to head off even more problems down the road.Webster said the top two priorities are a massive new palliative carePHIL HOSSACfCAYfNNIPEG FREE PRESSLucien Cyr sits in hallway of Concordia’s emergency department. He spent his first night at the hospital on a camping cot.■ i*■ ’’lt; • p‘' ’•i-...Vrf*.I-1J- A■ *:I w1 'V*vi• •aminimum. lt;r I *. 1t.• intend to• {* . -W ■head Gordon Webster• 'I.'i.' ' :’d :'/• •• .VV -l: •'» ; ' -i *v. T'.r V ‘■ '■ • 7 •••*---* ‘ , J f* ■ • :lt; •’ II'1 V*' ; ' * 1r7 '•‘t:program that will allow terminally ill people better options for staying home in the last days of their lives and a new stroke treatment program.“If we had a good palliative care program in Winnipeg we could benefit from 14,000-18,000 patient bed days per year,” Webster said. “When you look at the pressures we are facing inthe emergency rooms today, ■that would have a huge impact on us.”Webster said it will take two years to implement the new programs after the funding is approved.Meanwhile, a politically sensitive area that will eventually have to be dealt with is the future of the existing hospital boards under the WHA-controlled system. Made up of prominent members of the community, the boards traditionally existed toset policy for the hospitals. In the case of the four church-sponsored hospitals — Grace, St. Boniface, Concordia and Misericordia — the boards have also provided a link to the religious community.Webster said that in almost every other major city in Canada, hospital boards.have been scrapped and replaced with regional authorities that run the facilities as part of one large corporation.Hospital boards were even dissolved in rural Manitoba, but the government did not move against the powerful boards in Winnipeg, leaving a duplicate level of administration under the WHA.So, while the WHA has partial authority oyer the hospitals, some administrative areas remain underif.I if ii li f ii hit v r ivvkkw .Authority tad. A wteh list of.-, changes H wants to maksta improve health earsJh Augustr .r grant!a Bone density scanning:• $737,000 V ■£■ •■ Breast health$5.55 million■ Cardiac catheterization program: $1.38 million ■ , i■ Cardiac elect rophy slolo-gy/ablatlon: $1.37 million■ Communications disorders:$1.21 million■ Community hospital ICU r physician coverage: $358,006■-■Met scanning: $2.08 millionK Echocardiography;•$g26;ooo■ HSC hemodialysis Unit expansion: $4;29 million ..■MRI St. Gl ontfhee: $983,OObMiHSCL$m60b -■ Neonatal/pediatric criticalcare course: $128,000■ Orthopedic Joint replace-;meht:$7.85 million,■ Pacemaker implantation:.$1.72 million • ' •■ Ultrasound: $2.06 miilioh :(:,n lt;.- X■\ ■p * v : .tV fTotal: $31.63 million* . i ithe control of the boards,Webster said managing the separate corporations has proven to be achallenge, and even routine business decisions have to be negotiated until a consensus can be reached.While he praised the willingness of the boards and hospital presidents to work together, Webster said that eventually the government is going to have to make some hard decisions about whether regionalization will take the next step, and the boardsdissolved.The province has agreements in place with the four faith-based hospi tals that aliow-the boards to remain. Praznik said that as long as the boards continue to co-operate and function efficiently, he doesn’t see any reason to have them removed.Praznik said he would support the boards if they decided to voluntarily evolve into the WHA structure.
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Fri, Jan 08, 1999
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Jay F.
CA 28 Jul 2020
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