'We need to be open': CancerCare Manitoba CEO looks to upcoming review for ideas on how to improve care

The head of CancerCare Manitoba says she's not nervous about an upcoming government review of the provincial cancer clinicand whether it will lead tofunding cuts.

President and CEO Dr. Sri Navaratnam said if anything, she believes a review could help improve how the clinic is already operating.

"We need to be open to see 'Can we do something differently?'"said Navaratnam. "So that fiveyears from now, 10years from now, we could still sustain this cancer services at the highest level possible."

News of a government audit of the clinic has made headlines in recent days.

• CancerCare audit suggests centre on brink of funding cut, NDP alleges
• Pallister accuses Kinew of 'playing political football with cancer patients'

A request for proposals from an outside firm said the audit willexamine the "overall operational efficiency and fiscal performance" by comparing CancerCare with similar organizations nationwide.

Opposition leader Wab Kinew said Monday that the misguided request for proposals sets the stage for funding cuts. He also said that the government shouldn't waste money hiring another consultant after CancerCare Manitoba was already included in a KPMG report.

• Province releases part of long-awaited KPMG health-care report

Health Minister Cameron Friesen defended the audit saying it's important for the government to ask questions about how it's doing.

A 2019 audit

Navaratnam said she has been in contact with the provincial government about an audit since before summer and that an efficiency review was not specifically done for CancerCare Manitoba as part of the KPMG review.

She said Cancercare Manitoba will also be involved in picking who conducts this audit, which she said will occurin 2019.

"As the CEO of CancerCare Manitoba, I like it this way," she said. "Cancer is a very complex system so we could really focus and do it properly. That will benefit patients."

It's always a challenge how we're going to sustain the service for Manitobans.- Dr. Sri Navaratnam, CancerCareManitoba president and CEO

According to CancerCareManitoba, 6,500 new patients were diagnosed with cancer in 2016-2017.

Navaratnam said there have been ongoing discussions with the government on how CancerCare Manitoba can continue to provide services, as the needs of patients continueto grow. She said more people who are being diagnosed are living with cancer.

"It's always a challenge how we're going to sustain the service for Manitobans," said Navaratnam.

With files fromIan Froese