Changing leadership at Health P.E.I. won’t fix deeper problems, opposition leaders say

P.E.I.’s health minister says months of tensions between frontline workers and senior leadership at Health P.E.I. led to the decision that Melanie Fraser would no longer serve as the agency’s CEO, but opposition leaders say her departure alone won’t fix the province’s struggling health-care system.

Late Wednesday, the province announced Fraser would leave the role effective immediately. Premier Rob Lantz would not confirm whether her contract had been terminated, calling it a “mutual decision.”

The announcement came the same day 93 Island physicians signed a letter to the premier and health minister saying they had lost confidence in Fraser’s leadership.

“Coming into this role, hearing frontline workers, health officials and everyone in the system, I think that relationship has been strained with Health P.E.I. and senior leadership, and I think a decision had to be made. Her employment was ended,” Cory Deagle, the province’s health minister, told CBC’s Island Morning on Thursday.

“It's a role that I take very seriously, and a decisive decision had to be made.”

Deagle said Fraser’s contract included 15 months of severance pay. Laurae Kloschinsky, who is currently the assistant deputy minister of mental health and addictions with the Department of Health and Wellness, will serve as interim CEO.

Deagle also said there is no chance the province will dissolve Health P.E.I., saying the agency plays a key role in the province’s health-care system while the provincial government and the Department of Health oversee the roughly $1.1-billion taxpayer-funded health budget.

“It can't be just a blank check to Health P.E.I. and government step back and say, you know, have at it. We have a role to play as well. Health P.E.I. is the role in the day-to-day operations,” he said.

The leaders of Prince Edward Island’s opposition Liberal and Green parties both say Fraser's departure was inevitable, but won't solve the broader problems facing the health system.

“If the premier thinks that, you know, that's the end of the problem, he's sadly mistaken. There's a huge role for the minister's office to play here, the premier's office to play here, to get relationships back in order,” said Liberal leader Robert Mitchell.

Mitchell said he is also concerned that installing a new CEO could slow progress.

“What I'm fearful of is with a new CEO, a temporary CEO, an interim CEO in place, will delay the process,” he said. “What happens then — more physicians leave our province? What happens then — more people are added to the patient registry? This cannot happen.

“So although we have a new interim CEO, we need the health minister. We need the premier to take this file on in a big way, starting this morning.”

Green Party Leader Matt MacFarlane said the province must work to bring family physicians back to the table and restart discussions around their concerns with the implementation of the Physician Services Agreement and the subsequent agreement announced in December.