Question Period (4 March 2024)

From Hansard (4 March 2024)

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 Health Care Staffing

Mr. Clarke: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those 27 boards are united in their belief that this government isn’t up to the task of fixing the problem in education. Now this tired and out-of-touch government is failing teachers, but they’re failing to deliver on health care as well.

Under this Premier’s watch, rural Saskatchewan has lost 21 per cent of its registered nurses. That’s one in five. 474 registered nurses gone — the largest drop in all of the provinces in this study.

Does the Minister of Health think this exodus of registered nurses under his watch is acceptable?

Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and of course the data that the member opposite is citing is from CIHI [Canadian Institute for Health Information], and CIHI, as has been explained in this House a number of times before, relies on voluntary survey data, Mr. Speaker.

We on this side of the House rely on the actual data, the actual numbers, which of course, Mr. Speaker, since our government took power in 2007 we’ve added over 5,000 nurses and over 1,000 more licensed physicians to this province, Mr. Speaker. That’s a 40 per cent increase in nurses, Mr. Speaker, and a 62 per cent increase in physicians over what the NDP offered when they were in power in this government, Mr. Speaker.

We’re continuing to address and stabilize the rural and remote health care situation, Mr. Speaker. We know there’s more work to be done, but we have a health human resources action plan that is targeted and addressing those issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Clarke: — Mr. Speaker, we are losing our rural health care workforce at the highest rate in the country. The numbers don’t just show cuts to nurses; they show that we’re going in the wrong direction on doctors too.

Those same numbers show Saskatchewan lost 35 doctors of all types to other provinces in 2022, the second-highest loss amongst the provinces. And in rural areas, since this Premier came to office, Sun Country lost 25 per cent of their specialists, Cypress Health lost 11 per cent of their specialists, Prairie North Health lost 29 per cent of their specialists.

When will the Sask Party stop taking rural Saskatchewan for granted and start making sure people can access health care close to home?

Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And obviously our government is not taking rural health care for granted. We’re building hospitals. We’re building health care facilities. The opposite members closed those facilities when they had the opportunity, Mr. Speaker.

In terms of numbers, Mr. Speaker, our government is proud of the recruitment efforts that we have been making recently with our health human resources action plan. 964 nursing graduates have been hired since December of 2022 alone, Mr. Speaker. More than 550 seats have been added in 18 post-secondary programs in our institutions, Mr. Speaker, so that students can fill these seats and will soon be employed in our health care system in this province.

We’ve added seats to the College of Medicine. We’ve added seats to the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies for the health care aide program. Mr. Speaker, we have 298 hard-torecruit positions that have been filled as a direct result of our rural and remote recruitment incentive that we have offered so that we can continue to address and stabilize the health care challenges in rural Saskatchewan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Clarke: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Sask Party likes to spin the numbers, but the real numbers are in, and the staffing crisis in health care is nothing new. This tired and out-of-touch government doesn’t have to take my word for it. They can listen to the folks at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. Last week, one day after we highlighted the numbers showing how bad health care staffing is in rural Saskatchewan, SARM [Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities] announced their support for a grow-your-own plan to train and hire more health care workers, something that we’ve been calling for for months.

If the Sask Party won’t listen to us, Mr. Speaker, will they at least listen to SARM and finally develop a grow-your-own plan to fix our health care?

Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and I met with SARM this morning, and we meet with them quite regularly on a quarterly basis and as required. And, Mr. Speaker, we’ll be meeting with them again next week when they have their SARM convention.

Improving access to primary health care in rural communities is a priority for our government, Mr. Speaker. The member opposite speaks about nurse practitioners. There are a significant number of opportunities for nurse practitioners in rural Saskatchewan. We have dozens of positions posted and available for nurse practitioners in our rural communities, Mr. Speaker.

We also have a number of incentives available for those positions. Nurse practitioner relocation grants offer nurse practitioners to relocate to communities under 10,000 people up to a $40,000 incentive for a five-year return of service, Mr. Speaker. We also have the rural and remote recruitment incentive, $50,000 over three years, Mr. Speaker.

These are just some of the incentives that we’re offering. We continue to have these conversations with our rural partners, and we’re proud, Mr. Speaker, of the successes that we’ve been having. Thank you.

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