Costly lean program distracted health care workers from jobs: NDP

NDP health critic Danielle Chartier said she isn’t surprised by the results of a study calculating the millions of dollars spent implementing lean health care reforms.

“We knew that it wasn’t just the cost of the contract, that when you’re pulling people away and often CEOs and upper management away from their jobs that it costs money to replace those workers or their lost time,” she said.

Lean is a set of management principles and methods used by manufacturing companies designed to maximize value by reducing waste and streamlining work.

The study, led by University of Saskatchewan economics professor Nazmi Sari, took into account not just the cost of the John Black and Associates (JBA) consulting contract, but the staff costs to hold lean events. The total cost to hold lean events during that time was estimated at $16.07 million to $19.5 million, while the cost of new hires was $8.64 million to $10.56 million. The province paid JBA $19.56 million during that time, according to the study.

Chartier said she has heard from front line health care workers pulled away for lean training who would have preferred to do their regular work.

Eric Eggertson, a Health Ministry spokesman, said in a statement the ministry considers the costs found by the study to be a continuation of quality improvement work.

“We would not argue the methodology used to calculate direct costs referenced in the (study), however, would note that the majority of costs (indirect) are not new costs to the system, as quality improvement work has always been an aspect of the health care system in Saskatchewan and was funded prior to the introduction of Lean.”