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The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) website announcement this week is another step toward the government’s goal of a central intake system for mental health and addictions treatment.
The provincial government has spoken before about the ultimate goal of a central intake system, first outlined in the five-year plan launched in 2023. It would allow patients to refer themselves for mental health and addictions services, and would give the province a better idea of the size of waitlists for treatment.
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On Friday, the Sask. Health Authority announced it had added a new search feature on its website, allowing people to search for a specific service. It also involved updating and correcting information on the site.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Lori Carr said this search capability will be the basis for the central intake system.
With this system, people will be able to see which services are available where in the province, but not whether they have beds available.
“The ultimate goal is to be able to have how many beds are available in each one of those providers across the province so that you know you don’t have to call three places, you can see exactly where they are,” explained Carr.
She said, eventually, the application for central intake will be on the site as well, so people needing help can do all of that right online. It would help people apply for treatment and advise them on the best place to go for the treatment they need.
There’s no timeline for when the central intake system will be online.
“I would like to see it up and running next week, but this is the basis and as soon as we can reasonably get it going with certainty and it is going to be a functional tool for all individuals, we’ll get it going,” said Carr.
She said the province wants to have its full complement of treatment beds in place, and then it will move on to the intake system. The minister explained it’s a later part of the five-year plan, and the province is only on year three.
The provincial government said in the spring budget that it hoped to fulfill its promise to add 500 treatment spaces by the end of the fiscal year, but both Carr and Premier Scott Moe have said there will likely be a need to add even more.
