Since the Sask. Party first signed a contract with John Black and Associates and handed over millions upon millions of Saskatchewan taxpayers’ dollars, the pet project has been deemed to be a failure. Now the Virginia Mason Medical Centre – the centre the Sask. Party has touted as the model for Lean – has been given a failing grade and denied accreditation.
“This failing hospital is the Lean showcase that the Sask. Party spent millions on to study, promote and implement in Saskatchewan hospitals,” said NDP Health Critic Danielle Chartier. “The only thing we’ve learned from Lean is that it’s a huge waste of money.”
In a review, it was found that the Seattle hospital failed to meet 29 standards.
Some of the areas in which Virginia Mason failed were:
- Providing care, treatment and services safely and effectively;
- Infection prevention;
- Testing and maintaining medical equipment;
- The availability of resuscitation services throughout the hospital; and
- Providing care in accordance with the law and regulations
These are among the many areas that need fixing in Saskatchewan’s hospitals; however the government’s only solution has been to rely on Lean.
As a part of the renegotiated Lean contract, the government spent millions to take hundreds of healthcare workers off the frontline to learn from Virginia Mason.
“The Sask. Party bought into the incredibly wasteful John Black Lean hook, line and sinker,” said Chartier. Meanwhile we have surgery wait lists getting longer, frontline workers continuously being overworked and understaffed and a Sask. Party budget that doesn’t address these issues.”