Provincial Minister of Health Pat Atkinson released a general overview on the district health plans for 2000-2001 on Friday, and while no hospital closures are planned, the quality of services may be jeopardized.

While few details of the local budgets were released, Atkinson's report proposes the elimination of up to 50 acute-care beds in the province, the phasing out of 50 special care beds and the possible closure of 40 more long-term care beds. Atkinson also announced the elimination of over 270 full-time positions for health care workers, including 110 nursing positions.

Marga Cugnet, vice-president of patient services, said that while the South Central Health District's plan was approved, the district's policy is to discuss the local budget and health plan with staff before releasing the details to the public. A general memo to all staff members is to be sent out over the next week, informing worried staff about the local plan. Cugnet was confident that the lay-offs announced by Atkinson would not be felt in the South Central Health District this year.

"We won't have any lay-offs of nurses in the South Central Health District, nor of full-time or part-time support staff," assured Cugnet. "We have a balanced budget for the current year."

In response to the government's health plan review, Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Brenda Bakken said, "They're not closing doors, they're keeping buildings open, but they're cutting services within the hospitals," adding the government should be looking to recruit more nurses, not fire them.

"This is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I have heard of. There's a health care crisis in Saskatchewan - we have waiting lists, overworked nurses, doctors on quotas as to how many patients they can see, and the government wants to fire 110 nurses plus support staff It makes the workplace even more intolerable for those nurses who are left," she said.

This year, local health districts prepared their budgets and submitted them by May 15 to the Minister of Health without public consultation. Tension mounted over the budget proposals and health plans as the information continued to remain inaccessible to the public. There were repeated calls from the Saskatchewan Party and the media for Atkinson to release the plans. Atkinson gave a general plan for the province on July 14, but specific details for each district, including the South Central Health District, have not yet been released.

The South Central Health District can anticipate modest increases in ambulance fees following the provincial guidelines that the basic call pick-up rate should not exceed $150; the kilometre charge should not exceed $1.50/km; and the waiting charge per hour should be frozen at the current rate. Atkinson's report also anticipates that the South Central Health District will be among those that will phase out long-term care beds. Barring unforeseen significant expenditures, the district is optimistic that there may be a small surplus at the end of the year according to the approved budget.

The South Central Health District's approved plan will be made public at the August 17 Board meeting.