Associations representing two health-care worker sectors given a central role in Saskatchewan’s newly-announced health care plan say they are optimistic about its prospects.
“We’re very excited about this announcement,” said Toni Giraudier, president of Saskatchewan Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Under the province’s new “patients first” health care plan announced Monday, nurse practitioners can take on enhanced roles in emergency rooms and long-term care centres to reduce wait times.
The plan also looks to increase opportunities for publicly-funded primary care by removing the limit on government contracts for nurse practitioners.
“It creates an opportunity where a nurse practitioner in a community can open a clinic. Or maybe there is a position but they have that interest to build their own team — this provides an avenue for them to do that,” Giraudier said.
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill touted nurse practitioners as a key part of the government’s plan, noting that 26 new training seats would be added, split between the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina. He said this would increase nurse practitioner training capacity by 45 per cent.
The government also said it will invest $78,000 over two years to help registered nurses pursue training as nurse practitioners through a return-for-service contract.
Greater responsibilities are also being afforded to pharmacists in the new plan.
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With an expanded scope, pharmacists will be able to order labs, perform point-of-care testing for conditions such as strep throat and ear infections, and broaden the range of prescriptions they can issue.
“It offers them an opportunity to use the skills and training that they got when they were at university,” said Michael Fougere, CEO of the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan.
“Dispensing is an integral part of the health-care system, but pharmacists and pharmacist technicians are trained to do much more,” he said.
Both the nurse practitioner and the pharmacy association say they’re receiving a lot of what they’ve been advocating for in the new plan, despite not being privy to its release.
However, both associations say they have questions about its scope and implementation.
“How is this actually gonna work?” said Giraudier, adding that she is excited to see the plan fully in action.
“We would like to see some direction on the recruitment and retention of pharmacists, as with other health care professionals,” said Fougere.
Improving recruitment, retention and training is one of the five pillars of the new plan.
The province said Monday it would streamline health-care recruitment, expand its recruitment incentives and increase training, including by adding more seats for medical training and residencies.
But for CUPE, which represents over 14,000 health care workers in the province, addressing the needs of front-line health care staff is missing from the new plan.
“They just realized that they want to put patients first. But for that to be done, we have to address the root cause of the problem, which is the short staffing,” said Bashir Jollah, president of CUPE Local 5430.
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill told reporters Monday that retention goes hand in hand with recruitment and is currently being addressed with unions at the bargaining table.
“It really is about building the overall brand, the narrative of what a career in health care in Saskatchewan looks like,” Cockrill said.
But Jollah, who spoke to Global News during his bargaining lunch break, says he is not convinced that change will come fast enough.
“I am not optimistic with the pace that things are going,” Jollah said.
“We are putting processes in place, we are reaching out to our members, we’re consulting our members to see what’s going to be our next move, and that includes job action.”
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