Health Minister Doug Currie, what we have is a failure to manage

Doug Currie to spin off Department of Health to public corporation Health PEI

On Friday Health Minister Currie announced he was changing the management of PEI’s health care delivery for the third time in 8 years.

Health PEI may or may not be the dumbest thing the Liberal government has done in two years of power, but it does show one thing clearly: Currie and Ghiz have no idea how to manage PEI.

Abdicating management to a hired and probably patronage influenced CEO and board will not manage the doctors, nurses, hospital staff any more efficiently than the current set-up. It will introduce another layer of costs for new hires at $300,000 per year for salaries and costs. They will need a new and expensive building costing more millions.

“Taking the politicians out of health care,” said Currie.

Health PEI will have a board of directors, chair and a CEO, but the details of how its role will be separated from the Department of Health’s are still sketchy. Currie wants to wait until an independent report is tabled in the legislature next week before commenting too much.

He did say he’s heard loud and clear that the current system isn’t working.

“Having the operational arm inside the department has created a high level of bureaucracy and frustration for the delivery of health care in the province,” he said.

For instance, Currie said, when new resources are needed, all requests are channelled through Treasury Board or cabinet. That won’t be the case now. All decisions will be made by Health P.E.I. CBC

For the next three to five years, no progress will be made in improving the system as the new management get their arms around the tasks.

It is true that PEI’s health care is already over-managed. By comparison, PEI’s health care needs are smaller than Trillium Health Center, the hospital in Mississauga, that serves 700,000 people on a budget of $420,000. That price tag does not include external health care professionals.

Managing that number to reflect our resources will not come from a public corporation. The Binns government tried that route and it didn’t work.

Why the Liberals think the same approach got better in the last few years is incomprehensible.

Even with a new management team, re-organization requires the direct input of the health care and management professionals already working in the field – the doctors, nurses, administrators, etc. They know the system and what needs to be fixed.

External solutions look good on paper but change management history has been clear that externally driven change rarely lasts.

What PEI needs to do is replace the Deputy with someone who knows the job. If not the deputy, then replace Currie’s political executive assistant Vern the ex-assistant coach who collects a salary and tries to keep Currie out of trouble. That salary might help to defray the cost of bringing someone in who can run the show.

This is a failure on Currie’s part to manage, but that could easily have been predicted. Other than being junior high school principal and hockey coach, what in his CV says he knows anything about management or health care?

It also shows how empty the Liberal bench is of real talent. Who on the Liberal government knows anything about running our province other than how to enrich themselves on things like the PNP?

The good news is we have lots of dedicated doctors, nurses, health care professionals and administrators to keep the system running and our lives safe despite the government.