South Shore Health is getting some help from the province to cover a two year deficit. CEO Alice Leverman says the Department of Health has approved 1.7 million dollars to offset the deficit from 2008/09.As well South Shore Health received 1.3 million to be added to the base budget on a go forward basis. In addition, Leverman says over the last year South Shore Health has identified more than a million dollars in cost savings and revenue generation that has contributed to the bottom line. She says they put in a number of spending controls including reviews of new hires, reductions in overtime and travel and non-essential expenditures. Leverman says the upcoming year will be challenging as they're not anticipating any new funding for fiscal 2010/11. She says they're in the process of creating a Quality Improvement Action Plan focusing on quality improvements to make the best use of limited resources.
