<< REGINA >> The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) says Premier Brad Wall’s throne speech, delivered yesterday, is a step in the right direction to meet the healthcare needs of an unprecedented population growth, but still misses the mark.
SUN commends the Government’s leadership and financial support around addressing concerns with long-term care facilities, their recent commitment to improving mental health and addictions services across the province, and their continued commitment to reducing surgical wait times.
“There is some great work being done to improve healthcare in this province,” said Tracy Zambory, SUN President. “Improving nutrition and providing additional equipment is great and is a critical piece, but won’t solve the growing systemic issues of physician shortages in rural communities and urban Emergency Departments, overcapacity issues in the Emergency Departments, and dangerous staffing levels in acute and long-term care.”
Noting the registered nurse workforce in Saskatchewan grew by 1.24 per cent; this growth is less than the 2.03 per cent population increase, Zambory commented that this gap between the growth in the registered nurse workforce and our population growth is concerning. “As our registered nurse workforce ages and prepares to retire, this gap will grow. Without a front-end investment in safe, adequate staffing levels, how are we going to provide the appropriate level of registered nurse care to match this unprecedented amount of growth in the province?”
SUN supports the Government’s commitment to a culture of patient and staff safety, but believes the system can’t provide high quality care without the appropriate measurement and evaluation that tells us what those medical needs are, how they are changing, and how they can be safely met.
There is an increasing amount of attention in healthcare being placed on reducing inefficiencies, and realigning services to address the budgetary pressures the Health Regions are under; however, this is being done without adequate attention being placed on patient impact and risk. Saskatchewan needs to take a measured and proactive approach to developing new services or improving existing services, not merely a financial one.
Zambory says, “SUN supports bending the cost curve but we must also pay close attention to how this is done to ensure patients are not at risk. We can’t relieve the pressures in the ERs and safely address staffing levels if we are focused more on the bottom line then we are on the impact on the patient. Focusing on the retention and recruitment of qualified healthcare providers will go a long way to addressing the budgetary and systemic issues the Health Regions are facing, improve [access to] services, as well as improve patient safety and experiences.”
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Contact Information:
Erin Thomsen, Communications Officer (SUN)
Cell: 306.536.3467
