OHA issues apology
Posted Oct 20, 2010 05:01:23 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The head of the Ontario Hospital Association is apologizing to Ontario taxpayers in the wake of a scathing report from the Auditor General.
Tom Closson says he accepts responsibility for the accusations contained in the report, which include hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on consultants without competitive bids.
“I want to make it clear off the top that we apologize to the people of Ontario for not using their tax dollars as effectively as we should,” Closson said in an interview with 570’s Gary Doyle. “We’re really sorry about what’s happened. As an association we apologize for that because there’s no excuse for that kind of waste of taxpayers’ money.”
In his report, Jim McCarter says he found far too many examples where consultants were engaged by hospitals and local health networks without tender and without proper oversight.
One hospital paid a consultant $170,000 for two years of expenses, but when auditors asked for receipts, the consultant wanted another $3,000 to produce them. Another hospital hired a consultant at a cost of $163,000 and the firm got six untendered follow-up contracts worth $1.1 million.
Closson defends the use of consultants, saying it’s sometimes better to use outside resources. But he admits hospitals have to get better at managing those outside resources.
“Over time, attitudes toward what constitutes good management practices for managing consultants has changed,” Closson says. “But it’s clear from this report that hospital’s practices haven’t kept up with good management practice.”
Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews has also apologized, saying she’s very disappointed hospitals didn’t learn from the same problems at eHealth Ontario.
