Health Minister Doug Currie

The future of health care delivery is being thrown into question once again as the P.E.I. government gets set to create a new arm’s-length body to control the delivery of health care in Canada’s smallest province.
Health P.E.I. will take control of the operational and service delivery elements of the health care system, including pharmacy and dental programs.
That was outlined in the speech from the throne being delivered this afternoon at Province House in Charlottetown.
The throne speech outlines the provincial government’s priorities over the coming year.
In the speech, the province says it will introduce new legislation this fall creating the new health care body.
“In the long-term, a high quality, sustainable health care system can only be achieved through an effective governance structure,” the speech says.
But for those in the Department of Health, the idea of an arm’s-length body controlling the delivery of health care in the province is nothing new.
In 2003, the province created just that – a body called the Provincial Health Services Authority or PHSA. That authority controlled the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown, the Prince County Hospital in Summerside as well as Hillsborough Hospital and Mount Herbert addictions facility.
Ironically, the CEO of the authority was none other than Keith Dewar, who is now the deputy minister of health.
Two years later in April 2005 the province scrapped the authority and centralized health care decision making within the Department of Health, describing the move as more cost effective.
In today’s throne speech, the province says the creation of Health P.E.I. may not be visible to Islanders on a day-to-day basis, but it is “foundational to ensuring that Islanders will get the care they need long into the future.”

The Guardian will have more on this story later, full details, including reaction to the speech from the throne, in The Guardian tomorrow. Tell us what you think. Post a comment below.