Nova Scotia Health leaders considering more private clinics to tackle surgical wait list
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While the group of four has sped up decision-making and cut red rape, it has also raised red flags for politicians concerned about the lack of transparency around how decisions get made involving a $1-billion dollar annual budget. It took several years under the McNeil government before the meetings and minutes of the former Nova Scotia Health Authority were opened up to reporters and citizens. That access has disappeared.
“I hear you saying its not just four people meeting privately but the perception is it is just four people meeting privately because we don’t have that transparency that allows the public to understand the decision making process,” noted Dartmouth South MLA Claudia Chender.
Oldfield said she agrees their processes should be “open shop and not closed” and “we will work to get there.” Apparently, under the legislation that created the Nova Scotia Health Authority, an annual general meeting must be held this summer. Administrator Janet Davidson will both organize and chair this meeting, whatever that may look like.
Chender also voiced concern that the wholesale firing of the board of directors of Nova Scotia Health had eliminated the ability of representatives from African-Nova Scotian and Indigenous communities to influence decisions affecting health care as it affects their communities.
“That’s the work of our new equity and engagement division (set up within the Department of Health and Wellness in 2021),” said deputy Health minister Jeannine Lagassé. “To remove systemic barriers for all staff within health care. To engage with communities and hear their voices and hear what they need. So that we can build that into the decision-making.”
“The criticism is that decisions should be being made by people who are affected by those decisions,” countered Chender. “So without a board, frankly, that doesn’t happen. We had school boards that had Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian representatives who were in decision-making positions and now we don’t. They had representation and we lost that leadership.”
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