GNWT agrees to help reduce Stanton deficit
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 06/00) - The Stanton Regional Health Board will receive some assistance in eliminating it's $1.6 million deficit.
Board chair Larry Elkin reported last week that the GNWT's Financial Management Board has agreed to cover half ($800,000) of Stanton's deficit from last year.
"That may not mean an awful lot, but when we finished the year, the position we were in was that the deficit we had was going to be the full responsibility of the (hospital) board.
"But, through the hard work of the staff and outlined reasons for the deficit and issues we faced, the government has been able to at least meet half of that at this point," Elkin said during the Stanton public meeting at the Explorer Hotel Friday.
The hospital board has developed an action plan to deal with the deficit, he said, which is expected to be eliminated over a reasonable period of time without reducing service levels.
"The financial situation, of course, is not fixed, but we are closely monitoring our expenditures for the current year and at least to date our expenditure patterns are more favourable for this current year than we had planned," he said.
It will take approximately five years to eliminate the deficit, but Elkin said it will happen.
"There is no question that in final analysis the deficit has to be eventually removed, of course ... it's not if it's going to be eliminated, it's when and how," he said.
In his report to the board, Stanton CEO Dennis Cleaver wrote the deficit recovery strategy is progressing well.
Since the amalgamation of the Surgical and Pediatric inpatient units is not proceeding, Cleaver said an extensive staff consultation process is ongoing to determine where dollars could be cut.
He expects a number of recommendations to come before the board within the next month. If approved by the health board and the Minister of Health and Social Services, the deficit reduction strategy could be implemented by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2001.
