From 4 to 1: Regional health authorities to be folded into single board
CBC
The 2022 Newfoundland and Labrador provincial budget included sweeping changes to health care — but it isn't yet clear how those changes will affect patients.
Newfoundland and Labrador spends more per capita on health care than any other province, and it will spend even more this year. The government plans to spend about $3.4 billion on health care in 2022, representing 38 per cent of this year's budget.
All four regional health authorities are being integrated into one, which will govern the whole province. During her budget speech, Finance Minister Siobhan Coady said the amalgamation is being done to avoid duplication and provide consistency.
"It will improve decision-making with streamlined processes, effective reporting structures, data management and accountability," she said.
The 2021 report by the premier's economic recovery team recommended integrating Eastern Health, Central Health, Western Health and Labrador-Grenfell Health into one provincewide health authority, but this is the first concrete step in that direction.
Health Minister John Haggie said Thursday the amalgamation will take 12-18 months, and most of the changes will involve administration, rather than front-line workers.
"This is about back end. This is not about health-care provision at the front end," Haggie said.
PC opposition health critic Tony Wakeham, former CEO of Labrador-Grenfell Health, said the government needs to ensure the new provincial health authority doesn't neglect rural parts of the province, particularly Labrador.
"It's critical that Labrador be recognized for the uniqueness and the challenges that it has in terms of health-care delivery," Wakeham said.
Interim NDP Leader Jim Dinn said he isn't convinced the amalgamation will save money in the long run.
"It's going to come down to the devil in the details. What do you mean by efficiencies? And how is that money going to be reinvested?" Dinn said.
Haggie did not say where the new health authority will be headquartered, but said it will emphasize local input.
"As an MHA from an area outside of the Avalon and having spent several decades in health care myself, that is something I want to make sure to address up front in the governance structure."
Haggie said the CEOs of the regional health authorities were told about the amalgamation on Wednesday evening — and they saw the changes coming. He said the Health Department will be looking for a new CEO to govern the new provincial health authority.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.
New poll results released by Narrative Research suggest the Progressive Conservatives are heading into Tuesday's provincial election with a commanding lead over their political rivals.
A measles outbreak in New Brunswick is set to push Canada's annual case count to the highest it's been in five years, highlighting how infectious the disease is and how low vaccination rates have allowed it to take hold, says an immunologist.