REGINA - Federal and provincial health ministers were all smiles in Regina Monday as they signed on the dotted line two bilateral agreements for health care funding for Saskatchewan.
Federal Minister of Health Mark Holland, as well as Saskatchewan's Minister of Health Everett Hindley and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Seniors and Rural and Remote Health Tim McLeod, signed the agreements which will bring in total over $560 million in federal funding to health care in the province.
The first is called the Working Together Agreement, where the Feds will provide almost $391 million to support Saskatchewan’s three-year action plan for improving the health care system in the province.
The second bilateral agreement is the Aging with Dignity agreement, where the Government of Canada provides approximately $169.3 million to support Saskatchewan’s five-year action plan to enable residents to age with dignity close to home, with access to home care or care in a safe long-term care facility.
“Look, there agreements and our collective work aren’t going to fix things overnight, but the line of progress is clear,” said Minister Holland. He also alluded to some of the other issues in which the province and Feds have disagreements.
“There’s a lot of areas where we can disagree in life, but when it comes to health, I think what people expect of us to find common ground, to find ways of working together — not finding differences, but finding what we have in common. And I want to say with the government of Saskatchewan we find a great deal in common on healthcare, and that’s exemplified by the opportunity to work here today to make these announcements.”
“The federal funding commitments will help support provincial investment, already underway to meet the health and mental health needs of patients in our growing and changing province,” said Minister Hindley. “It will also help in building stronger healthcare teams and modernizing our healthcare system.”
The announcement and agreements signing ceremony was done at the site of the new Urgent Care Centre which is in the final phase of construction. “The future Regina Urgent Care Centre will be a major achievement for our province and I look forward to the significant impact this service will provide residents of Saskatchewan," said Hindley.
Details of the agreements
According to the federal government, funding under the Working Together Agreement will go to the following:
- Improve access to family health services and acute and urgent care by supporting a Saskatchewan family physician payment model, expanding Saskatoon’s Chronic Pain Clinic, growing the Virtual Triage Physician program through Healthline 8-1-1, and creating 64 new permanent acute care and complex care beds with 28 in Regina and 36 in Saskatoon to reduce overcapacity.
- Support health care workers and tackle backlogs through the recruitment of new health care workers, and increasing clinical placements to support the expansion of 550 post-secondary training seats.
- Expand the delivery of culturally appropriate mental health and addiction services through more treatment spaces, outreach services that connect vulnerable people to shelter and care, and counselling youth at risk.
- New technology infrastructure upgrades and digital tools.
Under the Aging with Dignity agreement, the funding will:
- Expand Community Health Centres, and team based care to ensure seniors live at home longer.
- Increase health professionals in end-of-life care and increasing the number of health professionals to help patients and support palliative care.
- Strengthen the quality of long-term care and home care services by increasing the number of front line care and continuing care providers, and improving compliance with long-term care standards through inspections and follow-ups.
