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2 Manitoba health CEOs turfed as province releases financial audits

Leaders of Manitoba’s two largest health authorities have been replaced, as the province released financial audits that found most of Manitoba’s public health organizations repeatedly reported deficits over the last several years.

The audits, done by consulting firms Deloitte and MNP for fiscal years starting in 2019-20 until 2023-24, discovered a “disconnect” between the province’s order to improve workplace culture in health care and decisions made by system leaders, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said at a news conference Wednesday.

The audits reveal systemic issues that have hurt morale for front-line health-care workers and worsened workplace culture in the health care system, Asagwara said.

“They’ve shown that there’s a breakdown in communication between health leadership and government,” they said.

All of Manitoba’s regional health authorities were examined, except for Southern Health, after the audits were commissioned in March 2024, the province said. All but one of the health agencies — CancerCare Manitoba — reported year-after-year deficits, according to the audits.

“If the disease in our health-care system is a culture of dysfunction, then the symptom of that disease is fiscal mismanagement,” Asagwara said.

“Over and over again, health authorities are spending their resources on the wrong things,” including private agency staff, administration and contracts with health providers outside Manitoba, the minister said.

Temporary leaders for the two largest health authorities that were audited were also announced on Wednesday.

Chris Christadoulou has been named interim CEO of Shared Health, Asagwara said. He’s replacing Lanette Siragusa, who served as head of the health authority since April 2023, after becoming a familiar face in Manitoba during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jane Curtis, who agreed to leave her role as head of Southern Health, has been named interim CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said Asagwara, calling her an emotionally intelligent leader. Curtis replaces Mike Nader, who had been in the role since April 2021.

Asagwara said Southern Health was excluded from the audits because the health authority has a record of balanced budgets.

Asagwara thanked Siragusa and Nader for their work, saying the leadership roles “are difficult public service positions, [and] these are two folks who I know care deeply about Manitobans.”

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