Confusing 'tug of war' has hurt staff morale at Health P.E.I., says CEO

A new human resource strategy will address historical problems with the structure of Health P.E.I. that have hurt staff morale, says CEO Dr. Michael Gardam.

Gardam was responding to a staff survey that showed morale was low at the organization, at Health P.E.I.'s annual general meeting Wednesday evening.

He described part of the problem with staff morale as a confusion about responsibilities.

"The role confusion between the Department of Health and Health P.E.I. and the Public Service Commission," said Gardam.

The new strategy will bring human resource management under the purview of Health P.E.I., and introduce new strategies to treat staff fairly and make staff feel respected in the workplace, he said.

"These things are actually quite well known. They're standard practices, but they haven't been here. Really what we're doing is modernizing to be comparable to any other health authority," said Gardam.

"Historically, Health P.E.I. has been a tug of war between various government departments, so it's been very confusing. We're taking control of our own human resources."

Small budget surplus

The agency dealt with a number of challenges in the 2021-22 fiscal year, many of them connected to the pandemic, said Gardam.

Health P.E.I. reported a surplus of about $1.5 million, which was a combination of much larger deficits and surpluses in different areas. That included

• A $5.7 million surplus from salaries not paid because positions were unfilled.
• A $2.9 million surplus because fewer Islanders were sent out of province for treatment during COVID.
• A $3.2 million deficit from staff overtime.

Revenue planning was also challenging during the pandemic, Gardam said.

"There was money coming in from various sources like the federal government, there was money coming in from the Workers Compensation Board, where we didn't know exactly how much that money was going to be," he said.

"But overall, I mean, we basically have spent the money that we were given. And it was higher or lower in certain categories, largely because of the pandemic."

Health Minister Ernie Hudson, also at the meeting, acknowledged running a surplus in part because of a failure to hire people is not ideal.

"It's unfortunate, but it's the same right across the country," said Hudson.

"We are in competition with every other province, every territory."

Health P.E.I. Chair Derek Key said part of the issue with recruitment is Health P.E.I's lack of control in that area.

Hudson said an external review is underway to identify barriers to recruitment.