Oldfield says she had no input in decision to axe health authority board
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Claudia Chender, the New Democrat MLA for Dartmouth South, said that in government, as in many things, perception is reality.
“I hear you saying it’s not just four people meeting privately, but the perception is that it is just four people meeting privately because we don’t have that transparency mechanism that allows the public to understand the benchmarks and decision-making processes,” Chender said.
“We had an election based on health care, we assume we’re going to see a budget based on health care, a big part of that in wanting to fix health care is also to fix people’s trust in health care.”
Chender, too, wanted to know what transparency mechanisms are being contemplated to build public trust in the system.
Oldfield said the public looks at performance indicators, using surgical wait times and the need a family practice registry as examples.
“I can envisage a day when we would have, let’s call it a website … or some kind of a dashboard that’s completely open, transparent and made available to any person that wants to see it,” Oldfield said. “That is the road down which we are heading. Talking about openness and transparency, we agree 100 per cent, it’s finding the ways to make that meaningful to Nova Scotians.”
Chender asked Oldfield about the structure of the leadership team going forward and about her contract.
“I think my contract is public and there have been no changes in that contract since the day I signed it and I would not anticipate any,” Oldfield said. “I serve at the pleasure of the minister and the premier and I’m going to continue doing as asked until the day I’m told my services are no longer required.”
The contract details are not easily accessible online but a media report suggests Oldfield is paid $224,000 annually as CEO.
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