Murray Wood: Government nickel and dimes us in advance of Saskatchewan budget
We know the budget is going to include a deficit, and Murray Wood says it's probably not a good sign that the government...
Finance Minister Jim Reiter said the health budget will include money for the 50 action items within the Patients First Health Care Plan.
“We could have not put as much funding into kind of key areas, like health care,” he said. “We decided now is not the time to be doing that.”
The largest share of expenses in the budget goes towards healthcare at $8.47 billion, up five per cent from the year prior.
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A large focus in the health care plan was getting more patients in touch with a primary care provider and getting patients into surgery in a timely matter.
In order to achieve stronger patient care, $11.9 million of the budget will go towards nurse practitioner contracts as the scope of practice for those practitioners is expanded.
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said $1 million from the investment will go towards creating pilot teams to support nurse practitioners.
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill speaks to reporters on budget day at the Legislative Building. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
“I think nurse practitioners having a very important and a very large role to play in primary care in Saskatchewan,” he said.
There is new funding to build a Multiple Sclerosis Clinic in Regina, which would serve the southern area of the province.
Cockrill said the only other clinic for the autoimmune disease is in Saskatoon.
“A lot of excitement from patients in the southern half of the province,” he said. “Obviously cut down on travel time, but to have that dedicated team based care focused specifically on some of the new therapies available to treat people with MS, huge impact for folks in southern Saskatchewan.”
Saskatoon’s Royal University and St. Paul’s hospitals will see 60 new inpatient beds in total.
Construction is set to start later this year for the Saskatoon Cancer Patient Lodge.
After a successful pilot project in Swift Current, the province is expanding team-based care with Patient Medical Homes (PMH).
Cockrill said the team-based care models could have a mix of different health professionals to serve the community its in.
“When you go to a clinic, you may not necessarily need to see the doctor,” he said. “You might be able to see a physiotherapist, or a social worker, or another professional.”
Esterhazy, Kamsack, Loon Lake/Good Soil, Lloydminster, Maple Creek, Moosomin, Swift Current, Wadena, Wakaw and Yorkton will all have these PMH’s built or expanded.
New funding will advance virtual care with the goal of cutting down unnecessary emergency room visits.
There is funding for urgent care centres that have already been announced in Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford, Prince Albert, and Moose Jaw. Both Regina and Saskatoon are slated to have a second urgent care facility built.
Regina currently has an operating urgent care centre. Saskatoon will open its urgent care centre later this year.
Money has been allotted to continue to fund construction at long-term care facilities in Grenfell, La Ronge, and Regina.
Opposition unimpressed by health care spending
NDP Leader Carla Beck said she’s seen a health care plan similar to this one in the past and it didn’t work.
“You’re not going to do it by dusting off plans that have been around since 2009 that you just keep putting new covers on,” she said.
Beck said the government should be consulting health care workers on the front lines to create better recruitment and retention strategies.
