Southern Health has completed its proposal for Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen on how it can trim its budget by $11 million. Chief Executive Officer Kathy McPhail says the board has signed off on the plan and it will be submitted to the Minister's office by the deadline next Friday.

"This is confidential information for the Minister at this time so I can't give you details. But our team has come together, our broader team. I am just overwhelmed by the suggestions that have come forward. Great ideas have come forward from right across the region; physicians, nurses, it doesn't matter what classification or where they work, there have been ideas. We've included a lot of those into the plan."

McPhail notes Southern Health had previously developed a culture of efficiency and this was another step in that direction, albeit a big step.

"Ever since our inception in 2012, we've tried tried to build a really strong foundation of, not just always trimming around the edges, but asking; Is it the right thing to do? We have tried to build a real culture of efficiency and this is just more step in that which is saying, okay, we need to take that really deep, deep dive. Are we doing all the right things? And, if we're not doing the right things, then we need to transform that."

McPhail says says it has not been easy work but adds discussions about cost-efficiency of been underway for some time at the regional health authority.

"A lot of the ideas that we're putting forward aren't ideas that we haven't been working towards already anyway. And some of them were pieces for us that we knew, as we'd come together as two regions, there were pieces that we still needed to finish and we hadn't quite got that done. This has given us that little push to get it all done. I am really proud of the team. They really stepped up to the plate. You know, it's not easy work."

All regional health authorities in the province must have their plans in by March 31st and the provincial government will then make final decisions on cuts in early April.