2 weeks Ago By Michael Joel-Hansen
The province’s official opposition is criticizing the government for failing to provide information about the cost of the Saskatchewan Health Authorities (SHA) payment and scheduling system. At her Saskatoon constituency office Friday afternoon opposition health critic Vicki Mowat said the Saskatchewan Party government is refusing to provide her with the current price tag of the SHA’s new Administrative Information Management System (AIMS). Mowat said she originally filed a request for the information on July 4.
She said the government requested an extension to release the information on Aug. 12, which put the deadline for release of the documents on Sept. 11.
“It’s now been over a week and the documents are still being withheld,” said Mowat. The specific request from the NDP asked the government to provide the most recent briefing note which outlined the cost of the AIMS project from Jan. 1 2023 to present.
Mowat said the information should not be hard for the government to produce. “You would hope this would be something that the government would be tracking,” she said. The opposition health critic said the AIMS system was originally budgeted to cost around $80 million, a number which has since increased substantially to $240 million according to the most recently available information.
Mowat was not able to say if the Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner had been notified about the government not providing the requested documents. She said the opposition has gone to the office in the past to resolve similar disputes. In regards to accessing information in general, Mowat said the current government has not been good about disclosing requested information in a timely manner and also has provided documents which she describes as being ‘excessively’ redacted in terms of information.
Mowat added the province’s access to information system should be looked at. “I think we definitely need to look at what other provinces are doing and see how we stack up.” Workers are still experiencing issues when it comes to being paid properly and on time.
Mowat said she has been made aware of cases where people have been overpaid, which has forced them to give money back, while other workers have reported not being paid at all. “It has been incredibly messy,” she said. Mowat stressed not being paid properly or on time can cause serious issues for workers when it comes to paying mortgages and making car payments on time, which can have a negative long term impact when it comes to peoples credit along with having a negative impact on their quality of life.
“There have just been excessive amounts of pressure,” she said. The issues with the AIMS system are coming at a time when the province is struggling to attract and keep healthcare workers. Mowat said she has spoken with workers who were previously frustrated by other issues in system who are saying they are looking to change jobs as a result of the payment issues.
“I’ve heard, this is the last straw, I am thinking about leaving, I don’t feel like I am being respected,” she said..
