Equipment costs
Regional Hospital District (RHD) directors had several questions for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) around two of the requests for so-called “minor capital funding” presented at the Dec. 1 meeting, and it could lead to a change in policy.
The RHD has a fund set aside to purchase equipment or pay for construction at VCH facilities on the Sunshine Coast. The fund is expected to have about $892,000 available for next year. VCH has made requests that would use about $596,000 of that, but according to a report from chief financial officer Tina Perrault, two of the items on that list don’t qualify: a portable ultrasound machine and five new patient monitors. Both requests come with a price tag in excess of the $100,000 limit (under a policy adopted in 2000, anything over $100,000 should be paid for using the standard 60/40 split between VCH and the RHD).
VCH Sunshine Coast director Lauren Tindall told the RHD that an additional portable ultrasound would allow the Sechelt Hospital to have both its ultrasonographers working at the same time, enabling them to clear a growing wait list faster. She also explained that while individual patient monitors are less than the $100,000 threshold, they need to be purchased as a bundle to ensure compatibility.
Directors voted to receive the request list, but hold off on any decisions until a review of the minor capital grants policy.
“I think that right now we haven’t been following the policy, so it’s important to revise the policy so we do follow it,” said RHD chair Frank Mauro of Pender Harbour.
Several directors also said they’d like to see the list from VCH prioritized either by need or date required to help them make decisions about which items to fund. Tindall said VCH considers all the items on the list submitted for the Dec. 1 meeting “critical needs.”
Provisional budget
RHD directors also adopted a provisional 2017 budget at the Dec. 1 meeting.
Perrault told directors that the RHD is on track for a $10,000 surplus in the account for administrative fees passed on by the Sunshine Coast Regional District heading into 2017. She also said an overall reduction in those costs would carry over into the next fiscal year, meaning the total tax requisition for the coming fiscal year would likely be $1,846,850, a reduction of roughly 4.9 per cent from 2016.
If those projections hold up when the budget comes up for final adoption next March, the result would be a $0.98 per $100,000 in assessed value drop in the RHD tax rate.
The provisional budget report also notes that the Sechelt Hospital expansion project is due to wrap up in 2017, with the RHD’s share for the final phase expected to be about $2.7 million. The RHD, and therefore local taxpayers, are funding 40 per cent of the $44 million project.
VCH is expected to make a public announcement about the final phase in the coming weeks.
