Health Care and Political Promises

It is election time in Saskatchewan again and of course health care is being used as a platform. No surprise there. Moose Jaw has waited many years for word on a new hospital to replace the aging one we have now. Just last year (perhaps it was 2 years ago) the ICU unit was revamped. Now, just prior to election time, we are told a new hospital will be built, beginning in 2013 and completed in 2015.

Of course my initial reaction was, "Just how small is the hospital going to be if the politicians feel it can be constructed within a two year time frame?"

It seem sour new hospital will be run under a "lean system" and be 20 beds smaller than it is now. The new facility will be a mere 80 beds (as rumor would have it). Keep in mind please that this is a city of approximately 32,000 people and many smaller facilities in and around the city have been severely downsized.

Here is my second "Letter to the Editor" on the subject

Letter to the Editor
Moose Jaw Times Herald
Not against a “lean system”, just lean thinking

I was dismayed to hear the new hospital Moose Jaw will receive is going to be only 80 beds; that certainly explains its’ ability to be constructed in just 2 years. Adopting a lean system in health care should make a 100 bed hospital function more like a 120 bed hospital. Unfortunately a mere 80 beds will likely leave this city’s residents in much the same boat as they are now, including long wait times for procedures and hallway medical care.
In brief, the lean system used in health care was adopted from the systems used by manufacturing companies to increase production and decrease associated costs. It can have many benefits for governments and health care organizations, including decreasing wastes of time and materials, better patient flow, less stress on health care staff and decreasing incidences of medication and care errors. With the money saved, more dollars could be put towards increasing training seats for doctors and nurses, help with tuition costs, more school health nurses and better access to health care practitioners for all health care consumers. More and better quality care nursing homes could also be witnessed as a result from better run systems.
Unfortunately, lean thinking seems to have seen only the immediate cost savings. The current practices of NHS services in Britain have caused a tremendous decrease in the quality of health care in their system. Is Saskatchewan to follow suit? Will Moose Jaw add this as a claim to fame? I will be most interested to hear what all political parties have to say on this issue as election day fast approaches.

Wendy Getchell
Moose Jaw