09/06/2024
This article is in response to Dr. Isabelle Richard’s opinion piece published Aug. 17, 2024 in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and Regina Leader-Post.
Since November 2020, I’ve had the privilege to serve as both the minister of health, and minister of rural and remote health/mental health & addictions. I’ve visited numerous health-care facilities, spoken with frontline health-care providers, and met with the patients they serve.
Earlier this year, the provincial government signed a new four-year agreement with the Saskatchewan Medical Association which includes a record-setting increase in ongoing funding for physician services and initiatives of approximately $245 million, which features general rate increases and investments in recruitment and retention.
These include:
• physician compensation, benefits and recruitment and retention initiatives, which maintain Saskatchewan’s position as a competitive province to practise medicine;
• a new $50-million payment model for family physicians compensating family physicians for establishing long-term relationships with their patients and providing physicians with more time for complex patient issues;
• a new $10-million innovation fund to support increased team-based care in primary health-care settings by funding physician-developed ideas for improving access to primary care;
• continued funding for the new after-hours and urgent care programs to reduce reliance on emergency departments and increase patient access to after-hours health services;
• a new transitional payment model also offers eligible family physicians up to an additional $144,000 annually, enabling them to spend more time with complex patients.
Physicians and government continue to work toward a new blended capitation payment model, but both sides acknowledge that this will take time.
We understand that team-based care is a priority. We are increasing the scope of practice for advanced care paramedics, nurse practitioners and pharmacists so they can practice alongside physicians in a team-based model creating more avenues for patients to access primary care.
We want to ensure that the right patient sees the right health-care provider at the right time.
Every province and territory in Canada faces health-care recruitment and retention challenges. As an example, media in British Columbia are still reporting frequent temporary closures of emergency departments due to short staffing, and in Quebec, recent media reports state a record number of physicians have left the public health-care system to pursue private practice.
We are training and hiring more Saskatchewan-born and raised physicians by creating more opportunities here at home. Since 2007, we have expanded the College of Medicine undergraduate seats from 60 to 108.
At the same time, we have expanded medical residency seats through the University of Saskatchewan from 60 to 140, offering additional locations in Prince Albert, Swift Current, La Ronge, North Battleford and Moose Jaw.
We recognize that there is room for improvement in our health-care system, but it’s important to acknowledge the significant strides we have made.
There are more physicians in our health-care system than ever before, and thanks to our efforts over the last 16 years, we have added more than 1,000 new physicians in communities right across the province.
We greatly value our physicians, and we will continue to work with them so that Saskatchewan can be the best place in Canada to establish a lifelong career in medicine.
