"Six Nations Health fails to spend funds... losing almost $500,000"

By Donna Duric, Writer

Six Nations Health Services funding is being clawed back by almost half a million dollars to pay back unspent funds to the provincial government and Local Health Integration Network.

Health Services Director Ruby Miller said $442,318 is being clawed back because it wasn't spent on specific areas intended through funding agreements with the province and the local LHIN.

"This is operational money that wasn't spent," said Miller. "A lot of it is staffing issues. We didn't have the staff on. We got the money and we have to send it back because we didn't use it in the way the contribution agreement states that we have to use it."

She said according to the funding agreements, the money has to be spent on those specific areas and can't be rolled over into other areas of Health Services programs.

"We can't move that money from salary and benefits to something else."

She told council's Human Services Committee last Wednesday that the provincial government is trying to straighten out its deficit and that's why it's clawing money back from Health Services' future funding. The money it wants to recover goes back to 2007.

The biggest clawback will come from $300,000 in funding that wasn't spent on the long-term care and community care program.

She said the money was intended to pay 19 PSWs (Personal Support Work­ers) who weren't hired.

"We didn't have the amount of PSWs that we needed," said Miller. "At the time, we didn't have the personal support workers. We were kind of pulling people off the street and paying them to go to school as personal support workers. That was one strategy in trying to get the numbers back up."

She said it's difficult to hire and keep PSWs.

"We still have difficulties in getting the personal support workers because it's hard work," said Miller. "They're lifting, they're cleaning, they're doing personal care to people in their homes."

Band Council's Finance Director Gary Phillips said if the government hadn't sent them a notice asking for the clawbacks for one more year, Six Nations would have gotten to keep the money.

Health Services' funding will be short paid to make up for the unspent funds, he said.

"All the money is being clawed back from the 2012-2013 health care budget," he said.

Councillor Bob Johnson asked why health services accepted the money if the need couldn't be met.

Miller answered: "We tried to meet the need."

Councillor Helen Miller said she was concerned with the clawbacks because they all have to do with people that weren't hired, yet she's always hearing council departments say they need more staff.

She also asked, "How can we justify asking them (the government) to increase funding if we're sending money back?"

This is the second time in two months that Health Services funding has been clawed back.

In October, Six Nations Health Services had to return $25,752 in unspent program funding to the First Nations Inuit Health branch and Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care or face interest charges if they didn't.

One of the program funds was for a sexually transmitted infection research project where they were not able to get the number of participants needed to conduct the project, so the money wasn't spent, said Miller.

Another contribution was for a human resources initiative to provide further education and skills upgrade training for those working in health care. Two staff members from New Directions were supposed to take programs to upgrade their addictions services skills but were unable to attend the training, said Miller.

They also had to return over $8,000 to the Ministry of Health and Long­-Term care in unspent funds for the Six Nations Long­Term Care, Home and Community Care program. Miller said the program got an increase in funding late last year and they weren't able to spend it.

The Human Services Committee agreed to accept the clawbacks but the issue still has to go to full council for a final decision.