From hospitals to automobiles to the debate over public-private partnerships, Saskatchewan’s auditor touched on a lot of topics in her annual report Wednesday.
Judy Ferguson's audit of the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region found most patients were being discharged from hospital without proper record of what they had to do after they left.
“Communication and need for documentation seem to be pretty common themes,” Ferguson said.
“Nearly one-half of the discharged summaries we examined lacked information on medications patients were to take.”
The health region doesn’t deny the problem, saying it has been trying to solve it for months.
“You put standards in place and you need to audit and make sure that folks are following those standards,” said the health region’s Dawn Calder. “None of the recommendations the auditor made were a surprise.”
For the Opposition NDP, it’s a finding that plays into their theme of the past year.
“Many staff, I think, would like to prepare discharge plans but sometimes are stressed and stretched just providing the bare minimum,” said NDP health critic Danielle Chartier.
But it's not just hospitals being critiqued. Ferguson also accuses Saskatchewan Government Insurance of not keeping record of the more than 3,000 vehicle inspectors across the province.
“This, in turn, increases the risk that unsafe vehicles are operating on Saskatchewan roads,” Ferguson said.
SGI doesn’t deny the problem and says it hopes to have all the necessary changes in place within the next two years.
“Our safety officers go out, they do verbal discussions with the owners and the technicians and they indicate they’ve done a station visit and they just need to provide more detail,” said SGI’s Lyle Mosiondz.
Ferguson also scrutinized the Saskatchewan government's many P3-funded infrastructure projects.
“They should set minimum content requirements, like set a baseline and don’t go below that,” she said.
Ferguson says there are currently no rules for details about the projects to be recorded, meaning crucial information, such as savings, remains secret.
Opponents of the P3 funding model say the lack of transparency is alarming.
“In places like Ontario, the provincial auditor has pointed out that some of the P3s have been overpriced up to $8 billion, and we’re certainly concerned about that here in Saskatchewan,” said New Democrat MLA Cathy Sproule.
But the government insists there is no problem. It says while there is no firm rule about reporting information, its intention is to be up-front about P3 projects in the future.
“They’re very important so as to ensure transparency and accountability when it comes to these projects,” said Gordon Wyant, the minister responsible for SaskBuilds.
Based on a report by CTV Regina’s Dale Hunter
