Ombudsman also launching review into Central Health management

Administration and management at the Central Regional Health Authority will soon be the focus of an external review, andnow the Office of the Citizens' Representativehas announced the provincial ombudsmanwillconduct a separate review.

Health minister John Haggie announced this week that Central Healthwill undergo a complete external review, with the Newfoundland and Labrador government recruiting a former deputy health minister from Nova Scotia to look at how it works.

• Central Health review triggered after escalating staff complaints

The review is the result of concerns and complaints about governance and management of health care services in central Newfoundland, but not with front-line care.

Citizens' Representative Barry Fleming has announced he will be undertaking a separate investigation into complaints about what he calls "administrative fairness."

Own-motion investigation

Though his office usually does not speak publicly aboutinvestigations stemming from citizens complaints, this particular investigation will be done by Fleming under his own motion.

"No citizen has actually come forward and filed the complaint that we're using to do this investigation. It's at my own initiative, which is permitted under our act," he told the CentralMorning Show Thursday.

The Office of the Citizens' Representative receives between 600 and 700 complaints a year from the public, and Fleming said his office usually undertakes only about four or five own-motion investigations each year.

Fleming will notcomment on specifics of this particular case with Central Health, and said his office is just waiting to see what the scope of the external review is before moving forward.

He also stresses that his office's investigation will be behind closed doors and will operate as an independentreviewer without any biases.

"We're going to step back, wait a little while and see what the terms of reference are for this third-party review ordered by Dr.Haggie. If they overlap completely, we will step back and let that work proceed," Fleming said.

Not legally binding

The ombudsman doesn't have the power to hand downout legally binding motions based on what it finds in the investigation.

Instead, Fleming said his office uses tactics such as conciliation, mediation and persuasion to try and change the decisions of public bodies like Central Health.

"If we think that citizens have been treated unfairly with respect to particular aspects of the public body's administration or decisions, we can make recommendations to help ameliorate the harm done as a result of those decisions," he said.