CEO Report - June 1 and 28, 2023

CEO Report: Highlighting Numerous Accomplishments of SHA Teams

The SHA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) highlighted the fact that, nation-wide, Saskatchewan has stood out as a leader in creating new and enhanced services while at the same time making progress on our health human resource strategies. Since last September, we have begun to stabilize services by filling more than 120 new and enhanced permanent full time positions at sites across rural and remote areas while, at the same time, recording record surgical volumes in 2022-23 and reducing the number of long waiters for surgery. Enhancements to Emergency Medical Services are underway across 31 sites in Saskatchewan and Community Paramedicine programs are also being enhanced in communities across the province, helping better support patients at home and reducing pressure on our emergency departments. The SHA commitment to enhancing services is also focused work in our mental health and addictions programming as well.

A virtual care strategy is in development aimed specifically at stabilizing sites impacted by physician coverage issues in rural and remote Emergency Rooms. This includes recent initiatives to create the Saskatchewan Virtual Visit platform to strengthen options for patients and families to connect with health providers remotely, and our Remote Patient Monitoring partnership with Telus that enables real-time information to flow between clients at home and their health care providers, enhancing our ability to provide remote care to patients at risk. All of these initiatives, among many more including the advancement of numerous capital projects at various stages of completion, strengthen our ability to provide seamless, high quality care, close to home. This is complex work with challenges but it is critical to pause and remember that we have increased health care options for the Saskatchewan people and that we are enhancing our services for residents in every corner of this province. Celebrating advancements is critical to recognizing the hard work of our health care teams who make this a reality.

Chief Medical Officer’s report:  Priority work on the Health Human Resources Plan and Physician Recruitment

The office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), in support of progressing Health Human Resources (HHR) strategies, is focused on advancing physician HHR through innovative and collaborative approaches. The SHA continues to work with the newly established Saskatchewan Healthcare Recruitment Agency (SHRA) to strengthen HHR in Saskatchewan. The first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SHRA was recently appointed, and the SHA looks forward to continue to work in partnership with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to support the SHRA’s successful launch. In partnership with the newly established SHRA, the SHA is committed to addressing high priority physician recruitment needs including in the areas of Anesthesia, Psychiatry, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics. The Practitioner Staff Affairs (PSA) team is reexamining their organization design and processes aiming to further strengthen the support for practitioner staff services.

The SHA celebrates the recruitment of new members into the physician leadership team including two Area Chiefs of Staff (ACOS) for Saskatoon, Provincial Department Heads of Surgery and Pediatrics, and a new Physician Executive to work alongside the Vice President of Integrated Saskatoon Health.  This team, along with their operational coleaders, will support the SHA’s vision, mission and values.  The Chief Medical Office also thanks Dr. John Froh for his considerable service to the SHA, and congratulates him on his recent appointment as the Chief Medical Officer for Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS).  A search for the resulting vacant Deputy Chief Medical Officer position is underway.

Strategy Roadmap

The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) presented the 2023-24 Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) Roadmap. The Roadmap is the SHA’s delivery plan to execute on this year’s budget commitments as well as advance key priorities for the SHA.

The 2023-24 SHA Roadmap is focused on achieving four key goals:

  • Investing in our most valuable resource—our people;
  • Improving access to integrated team-based mental health and addiction services;
  • Providing seamless care as close to home as possible; and
  • Enhancing patient care through better flow of information and renewed facility infrastructure.

The SHA officially launched the Roadmap April 24, 2023 which has now been approved by the Board of Directors. The Board played an important role in this plan, providing input at different times earlier this year during the planning cycle.

2023-24 Budget Plan and 2023-24 & 2024-25 Capital Expenditure Plans

The Government of Saskatchewan delivered the provincial budget estimates on March 22, 2023 with the theme of “Growth That Works For Everyone.”  The SHA received its Accountability letter and Ministry of Health Plan and information included in those documents have been used to prepare the 2023-24 SHA Budget Plan and 2023-24 Capital Expenditure Plan. The SHA Budget Plan is prepared on a consolidated basis and consists of SHA operating budget and capital budgets. Included within the presentation is a notional 2024-25 Capital Expenditure Plan. The premise of a multi-year capital expenditure plan allows for project planning to occur in the current fiscal year to support efficiencies in project delivery for the subsequent fiscal year. 

To ensure sustainability into the future the SHA will focus on:

  • Collaboration on a multi-year plan to achieve financial objectives of sustainability within 4-5 years;
  • Promoting efficient and effective utilization of health services while maintaining and improving patient and staff safety; and
  • Workforce optimization with a focus on straight time scheduling.

The Board of Directors approved the 2023-24 Budget Plan and the 2023-24 Capital Expenditure plan as presented and the notional 2024-25 Capital Expenditure plan, pending government budget appropriation and approval of planned expenditures.

Other Items of Note

  • Revisions to the SHA Risk Appetite Statement: A Risk Appetite Statement is an important component of an organization’s Risk Framework as it helps communicate the Board’s expectations of senior leaders in the management of risk.  It also helps to address Accreditation Canada requirements (Leadership and Governance standards). In recent months, a regular review process was conducted with changes made to the statement, originally approved in 2019, to reflect the direction from the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Council and the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee (AFRC) of the Board to include language that describes actions taken by the SHA when risks exceed the SHA’s risk appetite and tolerance. The SHA Board has endorsed the changes as presented.
  • SHA Audited Financial Statement Year Ended March 31, 2023: The audit of the 2022/23 financial statement of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is substantially complete. The AFRC of the Board reviewed the draft audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2023 at its May 17, 2023 meeting. The Board of Directors approved the consolidated audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2023.
  • External Auditor Appointment: The AFRC has again recommended that the Board appoint the Office of the Provincial Auditor (OPA) as its independent auditor since the fiscal year end of 2017-18. To date, SHA has completed six successful year end audits with the OPA. The SHA Board endorsed the re-appointment of the OPA as its independent auditor for the fiscal year 2023-24.
  • Board Key Performance Indicators: Recommended Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) the SHA Board will use to monitor the performance of the SHA were presented. As a result of this discussion, the Board approved the use of 10 key health system indicators for use monitoring system level performance indicators in the areas of quality, cost, delivery, safety and engagement. 
  • CEO Accountability Agreements 2022-23 and 2023-24: As outlined in the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) General Bylaws, one of the duties of the Board is to establish and review the priorities and performance of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SHA. The SHA Board approved the Accountability Agreements as recommended by the Governance & Human Resources Committee (GHRC) which reviewed the agreements at its May 15, 2023 meeting.
  • Committee Membership Approval: Due to a vacancy, the appointment of Tyler Bragg, Vice Chairperson was approved by the SHA Board as a member of the Board Practitioner Hearing Committee.

 

June 28, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board

At its June 28 meeting, the Board reviewed and approved the 2022-23 Saskatchewan Health Authority Annual Report, pending adjustments based on final feedback from the Ministers of Health.

The annual report is a legislated requirement demonstrating the SHA’s commitment to transparency and accountability. This year’s annual report highlights work towards initiatives outlined in the Ministry of Health’s 2022-23 Business Plan as well as the 2022-23 SHA Roadmap. It notes successes and milestones related to the COVID-19 response and recovery, improving mental health and addictions services, addressing health human resource needs, improving access to team-based care and investing in health-care infrastructure.  Focus on additional strategic initiatives includes supporting and improving staff safety and well-being, developing and empowering effective leaders and teams, transitioning Extendicare’s Saskatchewan operations to the SHA, and piloting a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) recycling program.