New Central Health CEO shakes up senior staff in quest for change

There arebig changes afoot at the very top of Central Health, where new CEO has restructured itssenior management team in the hopes of transforming the health authority.

The executive team has been "streamlined," according to a Jan. 24 email to Central Health employees fromAndre Robichaud, who became the CEO in November. That emaildetailed the various new roles and acknowledged that some senior staff have been let go or have retired amid the changes.

"The first question a CEO asks themselves is, what kind of team, and what kind of structure do you need to be able to implementchangeand provide good quality care? Andthat'sthe answer to the question," Robichaud told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning Show.

Robichaudacknowledged the shakeup is just one aspect of working out the bugs with the health authority, which, according to a government press release, services 20 per cent of the province's population in 177 communities.

"There's no question that we have a lot of work to do," she said.

Feedback from the front lines

While these staffing changes have happened in the health authority's upper echelon, Robichaud said moreemployees will be asked to weigh in in the future.

"One of the things that we'll be putting in is some mechanisms to engage our employees in our decisions. Really having them provide us with some input, because it's the people at the front line that really know what the issues are, and what type of help that they need," she said.

One such way to engage employees, she said, will be by getting a team of 60 of them to provide input to senior management on what they're seeing on the front line, anything fromwait time issues or being overworked.

Arecruitment and retention strategy for physicians is also on the horizon,Robichaudsaid. It's a strategy that will be on the plate of the new chief of staff, a position she hopes to have filled by the end of April or May.

"There's a lot of work to be done. But in terms of front line care for our patients, Ithink we have excellent practitioners who truly focus on quality care," she said.

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