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P.E.I.’s health minister says months of tensions between front-line workers and senior leadership at Health P.E.I. led to the decision that Melanie Fraser would no longer serve as the agency’s CEO, but opposition leaders say her departure alone won’t fix the province’s struggling health-care system.
Late Wednesday, the province announced Fraser would leave the role effective immediately. Premier Rob Lantz would not confirm whether her contract had been terminated, calling it a “mutual decision.”
Island Morning10:47 P.E.I. opposition leaders react to Health P.E.I. CEO leaving
After facing weeks of criticism from P.E.I.’s doctors over how Health P.E.I. has handled the Physician’s Services Agreement, CEO Melanie Fraser is leaving her job. Matt MacFarlane and Robert Mitchell join us to share their reactions.
The announcement came the same day 93 Island physicians signed a letter to the premier and health minister saying they had lost confidence in Fraser’s leadership.
“Coming into this role, hearing front-line workers, health officials and everyone in the system, I think that relationship has been strained with Health P.E.I. and senior leadership, and I think a decision had to be made. Her employment was ended,” Cory Deagle, the province’s health minister, told CBC’s Island Morning on Thursday.
“It’s a role that I take very seriously, and a decisive decision had to be made.”
Deagle said Fraser’s contract included 15 months of severance pay. Laurae Kloschinsky, who is currently the assistant deputy minister of mental health and addictions with the Department of Health and Wellness, will serve as interim CEO.
Deagle also said there is no chance the province will dissolve Health P.E.I., saying the agency plays a key role in the province’s health-care system while the provincial government and the Department of Health oversee the roughly $1.1-billion taxpayer-funded health budget.
“It can’t be just a blank check to Health P.E.I. and government step back and say, you know, have at it. We have a role to play as well. Health P.E.I. is the role in the day-to-day operations,” he said.
‘Government’s got more work to do’
The leaders of Prince Edward Island’s opposition Liberal and Green parties both say Fraser’s departure was inevitable, but won’t solve the broader problems facing the health system.
“If the premier thinks that, you know, that’s the end of the problem, he’s sadly mistaken. There’s a huge role for the minister’s office to play here, the premier’s office to play here, to get relationships back in order,” said Liberal leader Robert Mitchell.
Liberal leader Robert Mitchell says a town hall meeting on access to primary care in P.E.I., organized by the P.E.I. Liberal Party, is scheduled for Monday, and invitations have been sent to the premier and health minister. (Wayne Thibodeau/CBC)
Mitchell said he is also concerned that installing a new CEO could slow progress.
“What I’m fearful of is with a new CEO, a temporary CEO, an interim CEO in place, will delay the process,” he said. “What happens then — more physicians leave our province? What happens then — more people are added to the patient registry? This cannot happen.
“So although we have a new interim CEO, we need the health minister. We need the premier to take this file on in a big way, starting this morning.”
Green Party Leader Matt MacFarlane said the province must work to bring family physicians back to the table and restart discussions around their concerns with the implementation of the Physician Services Agreement and the subsequent agreement announced in December.
“Government’s got more work to do to rebuild trust in that relationship,” MacFarlane said.
Green Party Leader Matt MacFarlane says the provincial government must work to rebuild trust with family physicians and should hold a public meeting to outline the next steps for the health-care system. (Rick Gibbs/CBC)
MacFarlane said the provincial government must hold a public meeting with Islanders as soon as possible to outline the next steps. He also called on the premier to apologize to family physicians and front-line health-care workers for “how they’ve been treated over the last couple of years.”
Deagle said he expects Islanders would get a chance to attend an open house on the issue in the next two to three weeks.
Meanwhile, a town hall meeting on access to primary care hosted by Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly will be held Monday. The event has been moved to a larger venue at Grace Baptist Church, which can hold up to 500 people, Mitchell said.
“We have invited the premier, we have invited the Minister of Health. We will see who shows up,” Mitchell said.
A town hall meeting on family doctors and access to primary care that was scheduled to take place Wednesday evening in Summerside was postponed due to weather.