Province adds more than 550 new training spots for health careers

In its latest effort to address the shortage of health-care workers in Saskatchewan, the provincial government is funding the creation of hundreds of new post-secondary training seats across 18 different health-care programs.

The initial $5.5-million investment comes as part of the province’s Health Human Resources Action Plan, which is intended to add 1,000 new people to Saskatchewan’s health-care workforce. It’s not clear yet how the money will be distributed.

The new funding will create more than 550 new training positions, the provincial government said, including spaces at Saskatchewan’s post-secondary institutions as well as reserved seats for Saskatchewan students in specialized programs taught in other provinces.

The new funding will allow a number of training programs to expand this fall, the government said, including those offering education for medical lab assistants, continuing care assistants, primary care paramedics, licensed practical nurses, pharmacy technicians, clinical psychologists, physical therapists, and mental health and addictions counsellors.

Health Minister Paul Merriman didn’t say how many spaces would be created for any given program, or how long any additional spaces might remain open.

“This is step one. Are we looking at it further? Absolutely,” Merriman said Tuesday. “Is there going to be expansion? We’ve got to see which (seats) we can fill, and then once we’ve got those filled, we can look at expanding those seats.”

Some of the out-of-province programs where additional seats will be reserved for Saskatchewan students include respiratory therapy, magnetic resonance imaging technology, diagnostic medical sonography, occupational therapy, electro-neurophysiology, and cardiovascular perfusion.

“For the first time,” the government noted in a release, “seats will also be reserved for Saskatchewan students in Speech Language Pathology and Environmental Public Health.”

Gordon Wyant, Saskatchewan’s advanced education minister, said Tuesday’s announcement opens up more health career options for students in Saskatchewan and improves access to training in many necessary fields.

“The scale of this unprecedented expansion of Saskatchewan’s health training capacity demonstrates our government’s commitment to strengthening our health-care workforce,” Wyant added in a statement.

A new public awareness campaign will also be launched to help make Saskatchewan students more aware of the expanded opportunities and available financial support, the government added.

Merriman said another goal of the government is to keep students in Saskatchewan, but he didn’t give any specifics on how that might be accomplished.

“There are some challenges, and we’re looking at what the universities can do as far as practicums,” Merriman said. “That’s why we’re increasing some of the streamlining processes, so individuals can come in easier to the system.”

Some of the new spaces are expected to open up by this fall.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff