The state budget released last week included a record $7.59 billion in health spending. This was a 10% increase over the previous year.
One of the main concerns that many people have expressed in recent months has been around staffing in rural areas. This was brought up at the recent SARM convention in Regina and was mentioned multiple times in Parliament in the days leading up to the budget.
Tim McLeod, Minister of Regional and Telehealth, noted that the province has developed a Health Workforce Action Plan in 2022, which is helping to alleviate some of the stress on the system.
“Over the past 18 months, we've had incredible success with that plan,” McLeod said. “We are continuing the good work that has been done under it and are increasing funding for rural and remote recruitment incentives so that we can continue to fill hard-to-fill positions; We are also increasing funding for the Rural Physician Incentive Program,” which will help encourage more doctors to work in rural and northern communities. ”
The budget includes a total of $33.8 million for rural and remote staffing, which is not part of the rural and remote hiring incentive program. This staffing funding is to support the addition of 250 new full-time permanent positions across his nine classifications in 54 communities. The Saskatchewan Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive is worth $8.7 million and is scheduled to admit recipients in 2024-2025. The fund is an increase from his $2 million in last year's budget, and some participants are completing their first year and her second year of service contracts. Additionally, his $1 million budget was set aside specifically to support the recruitment and retention of rural family physicians.
The government also announced it will expand the number of training slots under the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment Program. After completing the program in December, 14 new physicians began practicing in rural areas of the state. Anuret Gill and Gbemisola Osanin started practicing in Radville, and Dr. Mitra Jonoubi started practicing in Carlisle.
Ahead of the budget, the Saskatchewan Local Government Association called on the provincial government to take advantage of a previously proposed program, the Build Your Own Nurse program. The program was first introduced by the state government in 2014, but it never took off.
Mr McLeod said the government had since introduced several other strategies.
“What we've done is we've taken the best parts of that grow-it-yourself plan and incorporated it into new strategies that we've put in place since then, some of which now come through our incentive programs. We have,” McLeod explained. He added that recent announcements by Premier Scott Moe and Health Minister Everett Hindley will further support nurse recruitment.
The program, announced a week before the Budget, is expected to create 25 new nurse practice jobs over the next year.
