NDP calling for review into vendor-sponsored travel within health authority

Saskatchewan’s NDP is calling for a full review of travel by workers within the Saskatchewan Health Authority paid for by vendors.

About a year ago, a review of the practice was done after three people were fired. It came up with some recommendations, including one saying there should be clarity around policies for vendor-sponsored travel.

Then, in December’s report from the Provincial Auditor, she also said the authority needs an approved code of conduct policy that include the permitted vendor-sponsored travel.

She wrote that there was a draft policy found for 2018-19, but it didn’t have enough of an outline about what kind of vendor-sponsored travel is acceptable. It also didn’t have criteria to use when deciding whether to pre-approve any proposed travel.

More than 30 instances of vendor-sponsored travel in the health authority were found between January 2017 and December 2018, according to the auditor’s report.

It examined seven of those trips and found in two of them, the travelling was done before a new contract was awarded to the vendor, in four instances staff didn’t get formal approval before travelling, and in four instances the reason for attending the conference was unclear.

“When we’re making decisions about how we’re spending public dollars, those decisions need to be made based on what is the wisest choice, not who offers the nicest vacation options,” NDP Leader Ryan Meili said Wednesday.

In the wake of the auditor’s report, Meili is calling for a review into vendor-sponsored travel in the health authority and has sent a letter to the health minister to that effect.

Meili said the public deserved to know how often this happened, how much was spent on travel, how much was spent on contracts, and whether there’s a connection between the travel and the awarding of contracts. Meili said he also wants to know if this is still happening.

Meili said it’s hard to know whether the province is getting value for the contracts it has put out.

“And it’s so muddied by the fact that — having taken people on these trips and then the contracts granted afterwards — was the choice made because it was a good trip or because it was the good product?” he asked.

In an email to 980 CJME, the provincial government said Premier Scott Moe ordered a review of vendor-sponsored travel in November of 2018. The results of the review were released in February of 2019.

“During this review, all health agencies submitted their reports on vendor-sponsored travel and all were found to have met learning and development or procurement requirements, apart from the instances within eHealth that had resulted in the termination of those involved,” the government’s email read. “As of December 31, 2019 the SHA has a conflict of interest policy in place that includes vendor-sponsored travel provisions.”

The government added it’s “confident” that the report’s recommendations addressed the auditor’s concerns.