Former chair of Health P.E.I. tells legislative committee why he resigned

The former board chair of Health P.E.I. spoke in front of a legislative committee Wednesday about his concerns with P.E.I.'s health-care system and the way it's governed.

Summerside lawyer Derek Key appeared before the standing committee on health and social development to answer questions about some of the factors that led to his resignation.

"It had become apparent to me that the premier's office had lost confidence in my ability to lead Health P.E.I., and as such they were moving forward with decisions and directions without consultation," he said.

"As such, I thought it was appropriate to leave and allow them the opportunity to replace me with someone that they had greater confidence in."

Key previously shared some of his frustrations at Health P.E.I.'s annual general meeting in November, and again in a resignation letter he submitted to Premier Dennis King on Dec. 6.

Those frustrations included that he thought too much of the planning and decision making around health care was being done by the government — out of the hands of Health P.E.I. — and that there were too many hurdles to hiring staff and making necessary changes. 

"To me, it comes down simply to perhaps an acknowledgement of the fact that the premier's office no longer, or perhaps never did have the confidence in my leadership, to have those kinds of consultation[s] before making those kinds of decisions," he said.

In the legislature Wednesday, Key went into greater detail about some of the challenges he had faced.

Retention program 'self-defeating'

One example he shared was the province's decision to award retention bonuses to some health-care workers, like registered nurses and paramedics, but not others, like X-ray technologists and respiratory therapists. 

"If in my place of work a third party were to come along and choose to provide an incentive to some of my employees and not all of my employees, I would be extremely upset," he said. 

Key said the decision undermined efforts to strengthen staffing within the health-care system.

"I think the board has been very clear over the last while that the number one priority has been in addressing our concerns within the human resources framework," he said. 

"That necessarily requires creating or recreating a degree of trust, of respect, of accountability, of sense of value with employees. To suddenly then start treating some employees different than others was self-defeating."

CBC News reached out to the Department of Health and the premier's office for a response to Key's remarks, but did not hear back.

Key said he didn't intend for his resignation to be so public, but now that it is, he hopes it will ultimately lead to what he sees as necessary changes to improve health care on the Island. 

"The decisions that need to get made to ensure that health care is structured in a way that Prince Edward Islanders can be confident they're getting the best health-care delivery possible can only happen within the legislature," he said.

"Until we have the confidence and comfort that those things are happening in the right way, I think we're going to continue to struggle."