We are getting good value out of that pork loin, three meals with some left overs, and the price was very good @ Northern.

Last night it was schnitzel. Now I admit to be some what of a schnizel snob having been raised as a kid in a house behind a butcher shop, veal schnitzel was all I knew. Then later years I was spoilt again by a restaurant call the Adriatic down in Wollongong. Veal as big as the plates with coleslaw and german potaoe salad.

Unrelated; A twitter er has awarded me the CNA.
Connoisseur of Nutritional Arts.

Now to get back to the LGH stuff.

One of the big bugbears of LGH/NG is how to communicate concerns, complaints, compliments into the system of LGH and NG. I include NG for the obvious reason that they are either partners or clients of LGH in health delivery.

Whatever policy is in place at the moment it is not working. People at LGH and NG know this but choose to either ignore the problem or there is something more sinister at play. Let’s just hope it is apathy.

Boyd Rowe the CEO of LGH suggested that patients with concerns go to the person who the complaint is about, or to their immediate superior. This supposedly will flow up the system to the appropriate higher up for attention I presume.

This is just too laughable for further comment, but it does say a lot about Boyd Rowe’s attitude.

Carol is aware of some of the issues on this subject, alas her suggestion that LGH posting notices in the clinics with peoples names, position, contact numbers and e mails will not quite deal with the subject.

People on the whole are reluctant to deal with authoritative figures verbally and even more so in written form, hence Carol’s suggestion, it does not deal with the reluctance issue though. The reasons for this are complex and varied; I will leave that for now and just call it ‘cultural reasons’.

So considering the cultural reasons, Fran suggested that an ombudsperson would most likely deal with the issues more appropriately from the patient’s perspective.

It may not be an ombudsperson per se but some one who had the confidence of the public and the ear of the nobs at LGH and NG, tall order perhaps, but no insurmountable.

Something like a cost shared position, someone who was culturally aware, some knowledge of LGH and NG operations and structure, but more importantly had the confidence and ability to listen and advise and learn from the patients and was independent from any retribution from LGH and NG.

One may ask why I put in the independent proviso, well retribution does happen both perceived and for real.

If more complaints and concerns were being relayed up the line in a more structured manner I think there is way more possibility of issues being dealt with in a timelier manner, not left to fester and develop into the mish mash we have now.

I am aware of the cultural reason being part of the reluctance, but that is no reason why with help things can’t change.

The nobs at NG know these things yet nothing is done, or it is perceived that nothing is being done to make changes. The nobs at LGH know also but their reasons for not doing anything about it could border on self serving and cultural insensitivity IMO.

Further to the previous post on the subject of non insured health benefits: there is oodles of information here on what the feds pay for. Therefor what the feds pay for the province does not, therefore it adds to the puzzle does it not.

If, as it seems, money is being thrown around willy nilly with no advantage to the patients why hasn't someone at LGH or NG or the feds wondered what can be done to stop the flow of wast.

You would think it would be to LGH's advantage to do research and garner evidence to streamline their programs and services therefor proving their efficiency and money management ability leading to perhaps more money from the funding agencies for more programs and services. But then I never did claim to be an economist.

Low n behold; I have just come across another subject that highlights what I have been saying about the ‘reluctance to communicate’ with authority.

The province has this home heating rebate for low income families. It could mean anything from 100 to 500 bucks in the pocket depending on your income.

There is a member of the MHA for Torngat Mountains staff in town going around and encouraging people and helping them fill in the appropriate forms.

It came to light that a low number of people from the area have filed these applications in previous years.

Another possible reason for not filing could be that the forms were filled in incorrectly or that some mistakes were made within the system.

More reason for a re think in how NG deals with its constituents, or not deal.