“It has become abundantly clear that they don’t know how to fix this.”
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As headaches caused by a new IT system persist, the largest health-care union in Saskatchewan is calling for an investigation into the program.
First launched in 2022 (only to be quickly walked back due to initial errors), the Administrative Information Management System (AIMS) was deployed for a second time this July by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).
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Since then, workers have continued to report payroll and supply issues to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Labelling AIMS an “absolute disaster,” CUPE Saskatchewan president Kent Peterson and CUPE Local 5430 president Bashir Jalloh are calling for an investigation into the system’s rollout and its ongoing issues.
“We’ve been raising the alarm about this program for now years, frankly, in the development stage through the first rollout and now the second rollout,” Peterson said in an interview Friday.
A news release issued by the local on Thursday cited issues around health-care workers not being paid as well as material shortages across facilities within the SHA. The union’s statement called AIMS “a dysfunctional job posting system, and triaging of testing at the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory.”
CUPE says there has to be some explanation for how to fix these issues but also how they came to be in the first place.
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The provincial auditor recommended in 2023 that the SHA “document and share an overall lessons learned report for the AIMS project with other government agencies,” as a way to help other agencies avoid similar “failures.”
“It has become abundantly clear that they don’t know how to fix this; they don’t know what they’re doing,” said Peterson. “They’ve already minimalized some of these issues, and frankly miscategorized what some of the problems are.”
CUPE is looking for “an independent arms-length investigation by the provincial auditor, a third-party or a committee of the legislature,” the release notes.
Speaking Friday, co-chair of the AIMS executive steering committee Mark Anderson said there is a full willingness to engage regarding lessons learned, but he was less open to the idea of an investigation.
Right now, he said, the focus is on fixing issues and defects within the system.
“I just want to reiterate that our focus is on stabilization,” said Anderson, who’s also CEO of 3sHealth, which provides SHA support services in areas like payroll, scheduling and supplies. “We’re certainly committed to responding to the auditor’s recommendation on that lessons-learned component.”
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Regarding the shortage of medical supplies within Sask. facilities, SHA CFO Kelly Thompson explained that when AIMS launched there was a simultaneous supply-chain disruption.
Thompson also noted there’s “a learning curve with a new system which did cause some delays,” but he reiterated that the SHA is focused on rectifying the issues.
“It’s not acceptable for any of our frontline team members to be without the supplies they need to provide care to our patients” Thompson said.
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