While the auditor general says the province has done well in implementing his 2014 and 2015 recommendations, he can’t say the same about the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
Michael Pickup criticized the Health Authority for only completing 44 per cent of their 2014 recommendations.
With a year and a half wait time, Pickup says they’re lagging behind the national benchmark of six months for hip and knee replacements.
He also pointed to the need for public reports on targets and wait times.
NDP leader Gary Burrill says his party agrees.
“Without having those public targets and timelines with them, it’s very, very difficult for the public and the province to evaluate and measure how the health authority is doing on this important goal.”
Burrill says his party’s goal is to see health authority meetings opened to the public.
“Why would we in Nova Scotia want to be the only province in the country where no citizen in the province can find out what’s going on in the meetings of the provincial health authority.”
The NDP introduced legislation this year on that issue but it is unlikely to pass.
The auditor general found that 12 government organizations had completed 100 per cent of their promised actions.
“The leaders of those organizations can be proud of this achievement,” said Pickup in a news release.
He says they encourage the health authority to complete its actions and publicly report on how and when surgery wait times will improve.
