A14 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 12, 2001 Health care spending to change next year HEALTH AUTHORITIES are going to be managing their budgets in a comple- tely different way begin- ning next year, says says health services minister Colin Hansen. Instead of receiving their base budgets and cover wage increases, they'll get one fixed amount beginning in 2002 for the next three years and be free to manage it by themselves, said Han- sen, Iv’ ll end what Hansen calls “micro-managing” of regional health care bud- gets whereby the provin- cial government is in-, valved in practically each . and every spending deci- - sion. “We'll give them the flexibility they need. We’ll be developing performance contracts with each of the -- cils are saying they might be pul into deficit situa- tions, “The bottom line is they will have to manage it,” said Hansen of the money health authorities ™ can expect. And he warned that the then additional amounts to’ authorities will be expec- ‘ted to live up to the con- tractual obligations of la- bour agreements. Hansen did acknaw- ledge there aze cost pres- . sures that will make pay-. “‘ing wage increases a chal- lenge. Although the province has said it won’t cut health budgets, it won’t increase them either for the next , three years. Critics say that’s as good as a cut in services because of the need to pay | for wage increases and to take inflation into account. “The bottom line is? health authorities in terms V there will be cost pressures of what we want them to 2 over deliver,” he said. The fixed budgeted amounts will be based on a number of formulae in- volving everything from fumbers of peaple in a hospital area, to distance people live from a health care facility lo the age of people within an area. “We will then make sure a fair share of the available money will go to each health care author- ity,” said Hansen, But Hansen declined to say if the fixed budgeted amounts will be enough to fully cover wage increases, “Will it be as much as they like? No,” said Han- sen to the amount of money expected to flow to health care authorities. Registered nurses, in particular, are receiving big increases dating back to a three-year contract le- gislated into existence by the provincial government this past-summer. . Even though the pro- vince is saying it provided enough money for. this year's round of wage in- creases, health care coun- then next three. years,” said Hansen. Gateway 3008 1.1 Ghz Intel Celeron 256MB PC133 SDRam 20GB Hard Drive 16X CD-RW Optical Mouse Windows ME Free XP coupon ] Year Warranty 17" Monitor and speakers $1339.99 “We're going to find out we will no longer be. able to do things.” The current health care budget, the one that is to be frozen for the next three _ years, stands at $9.3 bil- lion. It was $9.1 billion under the former NDP govetn- ment, but was then in- creased ta where it could: have been approximately $9.6 billion by the time the budget year ended next March 31. That has since been scaled back to the $9.3 billion figure. If local health care av- thorities are worried about ‘how they’re going to be paying for wage increases next year, there’s more bad health finance news out there. Doctors still haven’t settled fee schedule is- sues dating back to April 1 of this year and are now in ‘arbitration with the pro- vince. 1.7. Ghz Intel P4 256 MB PC133 SDRam 40 GB Hard Drive 32MB Geforce 2 MX200 16X Burn preof CDORW Windows XP Home 1 Year Warranty 17” Monitor and speakers $1799.99 m D500 2 Intel P4 256 MB PC133 SDRam 20GB Hard Drive 5 PCI, LAGP slots 48X CDROM Windows 98SE _ 3 Year Onsite Warranty 17” Monitor and speakers $1649.99 *- 2. *« » 8 @ # XN _censed Practical Nurses, ‘ sident Stephanie Forsyth. Nurse course start date nears NORTHWEST COM- MUNITY College has set Jan. 21, 2002 as the plan- ned start date for its Li- censed practical nursing program. It’s now waiting for a site visit from an official of the B.C. College of Li- the bedy which approves practical nursing, pro- grams, says college pre- Stephanie “We made it thraugh. 5 Forsyth part one of the Phase | process, the review of our written proposal which was 200 pages long. The site visit is next,” said Forsyth. “Phase II is actual- ly delivering the program.” NWCC expects the official from the nursing college to be here within two weeks. It has re- ceived 70 applications for the 24-student program and faculty interviews were conducted last week. At the same time, NWCC is readying a training and teaching room in its trades building, Ironically, it’s the same room in which a nursing program was once offered until cancelled for bud- getary and other reasons in the mid-1990s. Part of getting the facilities ready is finding beds for the hands-on portion of the program. Twelve beds are needed and just recently, Mills Memorial Hospital donated three it wasn’t using. Buy any computer package and eta. $25. sift. certificate to ere anett Pendragon Computers Inc,, , mai Mr. Mikes. It's a West Coast Thing. Mon. Dec 17 to Sat. Dec 22 Be shopping a pleasure and take the bus! Bus service is extended until 11:20pm from Monday, December 17 to Saturday, December 22. Evening service will operate on the regular Friday evening schedule. 635-2666 Check your Rider's Guide for bus service during the holiday season. Courtesy of the City of Terrace and the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine , i ib ‘city: of Terrace’ = ; BC Transit cata Pie ot Kitmat, Stikine, Ottawa, ON F ~~ Edmanton, Ag Portland, On Halifax, WSF Chicago, IL Detroit, MNF San Francisco, CA New York, NYE 0 Consumers Benefit From Publicly-Qwned Power Utilitias Here’s a comparison of what electricity costs in a variety of North American cities. Electricity prices are the lowest in the three provinces with publicly-owned power utilities — BC, Manitoba 98 {ao 101 Gin W122 G25 BSS85 136 150 «20050. 50 100 Monthly billings (excluding al! taxes) Rates In ellect May 1, 2000 Data Source: Hydio-Quebec's Comparison of Etectricity Prices in Major North American Cities. Rates effective - May , 2000. Sinca the publication of the above study, electricity prices in Caliternla, Alberta and elsewhera have skyrocketed dramatically, while BC rates remain frozen. 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For more . information on the fight to stop BC Hydra: privatization and deregulation, go to www. handsoffhydra.com or contact the OPEIU 378 at (604) 299-0378 or aviside the Lower Mainland at 1-800-665-6838, And if you are worried about BC Liberal plans to privatize publicly-ownad auto insurance, go to www. saveiche.com., \ | Name(s): Email: Address: ae _ City: Postal Code _- Adgitionat Comnents — Every reply received wl bé forwarded to your tocal MLA, Mall to: The Otfica and Professional Employees’ internattonat Union Local 1370 aNp Floor 4595 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C. V5G 4.9