New Sask., Ottawa healthcare agreements to bring $560M in funding

Federal and provincial health ministers gathered in Regina on Monday to announce two bilateral agreements – representing a $560 million investment aimed at improving healthcare in the province.

In the first agreement labelled the “Working Together Agreement,” the Government of Canada will provide close to $391 million to support Saskatchewan’s three-year action plan to improve family health, acute and urgent care.

The funding will target the recruitment of new healthcare workers, retention incentives for hard to recruit positions, and will aim to expand clinical placements to 550 post-secondary training seats in the province.

According to federal Health Minister Mark Holland, the funding will create 64 permanent acute and chronic care beds – 36 in Saskatoon, and 28 in Regina.

“This funding is going to be extremely important in improving access to family health services through funding for community based positions," Holland told reporters outside of Regina’s soon to be completed Urgent Care Centre.

“It's an important partnership … and builds a starting line, not a finish line,” he added.

The $391 million fund will also assist mental health and substance use support and specialized support. This includes overdose outreach teams, continued expansion of police and crisis teams and increasing addiction treatment spaces.

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The funds will also support modernization efforts in healthcare systems – centred on eHealth and health sector IT systems.

“Data saves lives,” Holland said.

“So, how are we going to work together to make sure that we protect data to make sure that it doesn't go the wrong places? But at the same time, make sure that data flows and that there's interoperability in the system so that patient records are easily accessible so that the doctor doesn't have to do something five different times,” he said.

The second piece of funding, dubbed the “Aging with Dignity Agreement,” will see $169.3 million spent to support the province’s five year plan around home care and long-term care facilities.

“It will support provincial initiatives in such areas as expanding community health centers as physical hubs for interdisciplinary community health teams, supporting long term care homes in meeting provincial standards, and program guidelines for special care homes,” said Tim McLeod, minister of rural and remote health.

“We welcome the collaboration with the health system partners as well as the federal government to provide our best care for our residents.”

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Health Minister Everett Hindley said the $560 million investment will allow already announced programs to expand and continue.

No new initiatives will be created through the agreements.

“The dollars that we'll be receiving now as a result of these two bilateral agreements with the federal government, allow us to continue to invest in those initiatives, expand them, and I think also accelerate them as well,” he said.

Hindley said the province has received positive analysis on many health care providers that have been recently recruited in Saskatchewan.

“That work is going to continue,” he added. “I'm hopeful that the announcement here today will help us to continue to do that good work when it comes to making sure we have staff that we need.”