Leonard Preyra - MLA for Halifax Citadel – Sable Island

By JOHN McPHEE

Health Reporter

MLAs put the South Shore re­gional health authority’s budget under the microscope Wednes­day.

The legislature’s public ac­counts committee questioned authority officials on spending and operations in the wake of budget deficits over the past several years.

In March, the Health Depart­ment agreed to cover the author­ity’s $1.7-million deficit for the 2008 fiscal year. The department will also increase the authority’s annual budget of about $70 million by $1.3 million.

The South Shore authority has complained in the past that it has been underfunded. But CEO Alice Leverman expressed appre­ciation Wednesday for the addi­tional funding, which will help pay for programs such as pallia­tive care and for a co-ordinator for seniors’ services.

The authority has also dealt with staffing shortages because of injury and sick leaves, partic­ularly among nursing staff, which has driven up overtime costs.

“We do recognize that we have received the extra funding, and we’re required to live within our means,” Leverman said.

The South Shore agency is the only one out of the province’s nine health authorities that has run regular deficits.

The authority has reduced costs, such as travel and admin­­istrative expenses, and raised parking and other fees to bal­ance the budget for 2009-10.

Those moves have saved about $1 million and the authority will be looking for other ways to save money in the coming year, Lev­erman said. All district health authorities should be looking at their bot­tom line, given the province’s financial straitjacket, said Health Minister Maureen MacDonald in an interview Wednesday after­noon.

MacDonald singled out ad­ministrative expenses as a par­ticular concern. Health auth­orities in the province spend more than one per cent over the national average, which doesn’t sound like much but it adds up, she said.

“I’m not saying they’re top heavy, but they’re not as effi­cient as they could be.”

While the Health Department agreed to cover the authority’s budget shortfall this time, it’s not something the minister wants to see repeated.

The health authority was called before the public accounts committee as part of an ongoing exploration of spiralling health­care costs, said MLA Leonard Preyra, vice-chairman of the committee.

“We don’t always look at agencies having a problem, or agencies in trouble,” Preyra said after the meeting. “Sometimes we just look at an agency to get a window into what’s happening in that particular sector. It gives an insight into rural health and what’s happening out there.”