CancerCare cuts managers, costs under provincial direction

CancerCare Manitoba has cut seven managerial positions and is looking at other creative ways to save money without impacting patient care, according to afreedom of information request obtained by the NDP.

The cuts are a response to a request by the province to find $2.5 millionin savings and reduce its administration

In February, the deputy minister of health sent two letters to Dr. Sri Navaratnam, CEO and President of CancerCare Manitoba, requesting that the organization find the savings and cut managerial staff by 15 per cent.

In a freedom of information request CancerCaresays they responded by deleting seven vacant managerial positions.

CancerCareduring question period

Premier Brian Pallister and Opposition Leader Wab Kinew squared off on the issue during question period in the Manitoba Legislature Tuesday, after both noted that they'd lost their fathers to cancer.

"These are important parts of the care Manitoba families deserve," said Kinew to Pallister.

"The premier still has a chance to reverse these layoffs because they just don't make sense. Will he commit to investing in CancerCare Manitoba or will he continue to order cuts to the health care of Manitobans?"

CancerCare positions eliminated

7 years ago

Duration 2:14

CancerCare Manitoba has cut seven managerial positions and is looking at other creative ways to save money without impacting patient care, according to a freedom of information request obtained by the NDP.

Pallister responded, sayingthe conservatives had put an extra $5 millioninto the CancerCare budget this year, but that some cuts were also necessary.

"We inherited a broken system," he said, citing the billion dollar deficit his government inherited from the NDP.

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"It takes courage to change things, Madame Speaker; this government has courage to change things for the better," Pallister said.

According to the freedomof information requestCancerCareeliminated thefollowing positions:

• Chief of Human Resources
• Director of Medical Physics for Cancer Care
• Director of Radiation therapy
• Director of Clinical Practice Guidelines
• Director of Development for Underserved Populations
• Director of Strategic Communications
• Director of Medical records

"Those positions are very important" Dr. Navaratnamsaid, adding they're looking at ways of filling the gaps.

"We redistributed among the other managers and directors and chief executives and of course everybody has more on their plate everyone's goal, same as mine, is not to impact patient care."

She added that more savings are happening as staff cut back on travel expenses from training and memberships, but the majority of the savings are coming from the administration changes.

Cancer is the number one cause of death the volume of patients is steadily increasing.- Dr. SriNavaratnam, CEO and President ofCancerCareManitoba

But Navaratnam also admitted it's "a challenge"to find ways to cut costs in light of the increased demand for cancer treatment and prevention.

She said while the provincial government did allocate an extra $5 million to CancerCare in 2016/17,almost two thirds of that went to cancer drugs the biggest cost in cancer care while the remaining went to negotiated salary increases for unionized staff.

Dr.Navaratnam added that the cost to cover cancer treatment in Manitoba is notgoing to go down any time soon.

"Cancer is the number one cause of death, and cancer incidences are going up, and also thanks to research and new treatments people are living longer. So overall the volume of patients is steadily increasing," she said.

She also said the organization is looking at specific ways to reduce costs and improve efficiencies, such as transferring bone marrow transplants to outpatient services and expanding their Urgent Care Clinic so cancer patients spend less time in hospital.

But hose initiatives "need some up front investment to get these things started," she said.

"The cancer doesn't wait. So we need to come up with a plan."

Patients react

Several patients outside of the CancerCare buildingstold the CBC on Tuesday they want the government to invest more in the services, not less, and aren't happy with the cost-saving measures.

"Itwill dramatically affect CancerCare," said Lesley Sisler, who's getting treatment for lymphoma

She said money from the province should reflect the increased need for service as cancer rates rise.

"The sense of panic that descends to patients, anybody who's ever had treatment knows there aren't enough big blue chairs, the staff here is superb, but they need more of them," said Sisler.

The Manitoba government also put a $300 million new CancerCarebuilding on hold. CancerCare is in the process of submitting a revised proposal.