CONTENTS
Standing Committee on Human Services
TWENTY-NINTH
LEGISLATURE
of
the
Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
HUMAN
SERVICES
Hansard Verbatim Report
No.
34 — Wednesday, April 10, 2024
[The committee met at 15:30.]
The
Chair: — Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to
the Standing Committee on Human Services. My name is Alana Ross, and I am your
Chair this evening. Committee members are Mr. Jared Clarke, Mr. Matt Love
sitting in for Ms. Meara Conway, Mr. Terry Jenson sitting in for Mr. Muhammad
Fiaz, Mr. Warren Kaeding, Mr. Hugh Nerlien, and Mr. Jim Lemaigre sitting in for
Mr. Marv Friesen.
General Revenue Fund
Health
Vote 32
Subvote (HE01)
The
Chair: — Today the committee will be
considering the estimates and supplementary estimates no. 2 for the
Ministry of Health. We will begin with the consideration of vote 32, Health,
central management and services, subvote (HE01).
Mr. McLeod is here with his officials. I
would ask that officials please state their names before speaking and please do
not touch the microphones. The Hansard operator will turn your microphone on
when you are speaking to the committee.
Minister, if you would please introduce
your officials and make your opening remarks.
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Well thank you, Madam Chair, and
members of the committee.
If it please the Chair and the
committee, I know Minister Hindley did introduce the officials yesterday. So in
the interest of time and to respect Mr. Love’s request to move things along, I
will just note that we have the same officials here today. With me, seated to
my left at the table, is Deputy Minister Tracey Smith. And of course all of
these wonderful officials who will introduce themselves as required along the
way.
As the Minister of Mental Health and
Addictions, Seniors and Rural and Remote Health, I’m pleased to provide an
overview of the significant investments in the 2024‑2025 budget that we
are making in key priority areas for Saskatchewan people.
I want to thank all of our front-line
health care workers across the province and our partner agencies for their hard
work and dedication to caring for patients. We greatly appreciate the work that
they do.
We recognize the challenges that we are
facing, and we are continuing our efforts to address the need for additional
health care workers here in Saskatchewan. These same challenges are affecting
every province. We are taking bold actions to address health care in our
province through our ambitious health human resources action plan and through
many of the initiatives I will talk about today, including initiatives
specifically for rural and remote locations.
In the area of mental health and
addictions we are investing in mental health care and addictions treatment
services. That is a high priority for our government. That is why budget 2024‑25
includes an additional $56 million for mental health care and addictions
treatment services for a record total of $574 million in funding. This
represents an increase of 10.9 per cent over last year’s budget and an increase
of 162 per cent since our government was first elected in 2007.
Of the $56 million increase,
34 million is new funding to expand and improve mental health care and
addictions treatment for Saskatchewan people. The remaining 22 million is
to support increased utilization of existing services, including hospital-based
services, physician visits, and prescription drugs.
Addictions are impacting individuals,
families, and communities in Saskatchewan, across Canada, and around the world.
That is why Saskatchewan has put forward a new action plan for mental health
and addictions last fall that focuses on getting more people the treatment they
need to overcome addictions and live healthy, safe lives in recovery.
Budget 2024‑2025 continues to
invest in the three pillars of our action plan: building capacity for
treatment, improving the system to make it more accessible, and transitioning
to a recovery-oriented system of care.
Budget 24‑25 invests a record
$102 million in addictions treatment. That’s a 29 per cent increase over
last year and a 177 per cent increase since our government was first elected in
2007. This includes $6.2 million for an additional 150 addictions
treatment spaces on top of the 183 that have been announced thus far, further
advancing towards our commitment of adding 500 spaces to double the capacity
for addictions treatment in Saskatchewan.
The 183 addictions treatment spaces
announced so far include 15 in-patient treatment spaces through Thorpe Recovery
Centre in Lloydminster, 60 in-patient treatment spaces through EHN Canada in
Lumsden just outside Regina, 14 in-patient treatment spaces through
Poundmaker’s Lodge at the former Drumming Hill Youth Centre in North
Battleford, 32 out-patient spaces through Possibilities Recovery Center in Saskatoon,
26 post-treatment spaces at St. Joseph’s Addiction Recovery Centre in Estevan,
and 36 virtual spaces through EHN Canada accessible across the province. More
addictions treatment spaces are planned to be announced in the weeks and months
ahead.
One million dollars in this year’s
budget is supporting the development of a central intake system that patients
can contact directly to self-refer for treatment. The central intake system
will make addictions treatment more accessible to patients, better match
patients with the services that best meet their needs, and provide a bridge
between services as patients move through the continuum of care.
An additional $1 million is
supporting the development of a new province-wide program that will provide
rapid access to addictions medicines for opioid agonist therapy. By helping
more people overcome addictions and live healthy, safe lives in recovery we can
save lives, heal families, and strengthen our communities. Budget ’24‑25
invests a record $472 million in mental health care. That’s a 7.7 per cent
increase over last year and a 160 per cent increase since our government was
first elected in 2007.
New investments in mental health care in
this year’s budget include a $1 million investment to further expand the mental
health capacity building in schools initiative to five more schools for a total
of 15 schools in that program. We recognize the challenges that young people
face, and this initiative is there to help support their mental health. The
program focuses on prevention and mental health promotion, early identification
and intervention. It also helps young people better manage their feelings and
increases awareness of where they can find help.
The 10 schools that are currently in the
program include Dr. Martin LeBoldus Catholic High School in Regina, North
Battleford Comprehensive High School, John Paul II Collegiate in North
Battleford, Greenall High School in Balgonie, Hector Thiboutot School in Sandy
Bay, Churchill Community High School in La Ronge, Prince Albert Collegiate
Institute, St. John Community School in Prince Albert, Weyburn Comprehensive
School, and Dr. Brass School in Yorkton. I look forward to announcing the
additional five schools being added to the program in the weeks and months
ahead.
Budget ’24‑25 is also providing
$215,000 in new funding for the BridgePoint Center for Eating Disorders to
provide a virtual treatment program available to patients across the province,
increasing access to this important service.
We recognize the importance of programs
like those offered at BridgePoint Center for Eating Disorders which help people
address eating disorders through a holistic wellness approach. BridgePoint is a
not-for-profit organization that works in partnership with the Saskatchewan Health
Authority to provide options for recovery and healing to people suffering from
eating disorders. Participants of the current program stay at the BridgePoint
facility for the duration of their program and receive support 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. Adding a virtual option for treatment is important because
it will provide access for these services to residents across the province,
making it easier and more convenient for patients.
Budget 2024‑25 also provides an
additional $150,000 in funding for Sanctum Care Group in Saskatoon to assist
their prenatal outreach teams, or PORT [prenatal outreach resource team]
program to support the health of at-risk expectant mothers and their babies.
This multi-sectoral program sees many groups come together to provide support
for pregnant women living in complex situations by providing effective
interventions early in pregnancy to reduce health complications for mothers and
their infants.
1.9 million in the budget 2024‑25
enhances psychiatry services in Prince Albert with a team-based model of care
so that they can see more patients. The team-based model of care will make
recruiting child and youth psychiatrists more attractive, further supporting
our efforts to fill vacant positions there, in addition to improving patient
care through a team-based approach. An additional $400,000 will also enhance
psychiatry in Saskatoon with a team-based model of care to better support
intake management and better coordinate patient care.
Our health human resources action plan is
getting results for rural, regional, and northern communities, and budget 2024‑25
continues that important work. Our government has committed to creating 25
nurse practitioner positions in rural, regional, and northern communities to
enable care teams to see more patients. We know how important it is for
patients to have timely access to quality care as close to home as possible,
and we have seen first-hand the role nurse practitioners play in making this
possible. By creating these new positions we will establish greater access to
care in areas that are currently underserved, making life easier for
Saskatchewan residents.
We are also investing an additional
$600,000 to add eight more training seats to the Saskatchewan international
physician program, or SIPPA [Saskatchewan international physician practice
assessment] for a total of 53, which will bring more physicians to rural,
regional, and northern communities. Supporting access to health care in rural,
regional, and northern communities is a high priority for our government.
Adding training seats to the SIPPA program is another step in this direction,
and we are excited to see more physicians serving these communities.
We are also excited to proceed with
phase 3 of the rural EMS [emergency medical services] enhancement initiative
through a $7.5 million increase to enhance emergency medical services.
This phase will add 40 additional full-time equivalent EMS staff in rural and
northern communities. The addition of these positions will help stabilize and
strengthen the important EMS services that people living in rural and northern
communities rely upon.
We are also providing $8.7 million
in funding for the rural and remote recruitment incentive to continue to fill
hard-to-recruit positions and strengthen health care services. To date, 305
hard-to-recruit positions have been filled as a direct result of this program,
helping to stabilize and strengthen important health care services in rural and
northern communities across our province.
In addition to that funding, we are also
providing $1 million in additional funding for the rural physician
incentive program, enabling us to continue to attract more physicians to work
in rural and northern communities.
Budget 2024‑25 makes a record
$517 million investment in health care capital. As part of this milestone
in capital spending, we are investing in new health care facilities for rural
and northern communities, including 55 million for the construction of the
Weyburn hospital replacement. Construction of this project is well under way.
A $27 million investment has been
allocated for construction of the La Ronge long-term care project. Construction
of this project is expected to start this year. Also, $10 million is
included in this budget for ongoing construction of the Grenfell long-term care
centre.
[15:45]
Planning can entail anything from a
needs assessment to determine what the community requires, to a business case
model to show why the facility is necessary and how it will benefit the community.
Investment in infrastructure will improve access, safety, and quality of care
for residents in our rural and remote communities. Ultimately we want to see
all Saskatchewan residents getting the care they need and deserve.
With regard to seniors, our government
recognizes the unique needs of seniors in the province, and caring for them
continues to be a priority for our government. We remain committed to providing
health services and programs that support our seniors to live safely and
comfortably in their communities.
To address these needs, we are
continuing to invest in seniors’ care in this budget which includes increasing
the personal care home benefit through Social Services again this year to a
maximum of $2,500 per month. This builds on the increase provided last year
from a maximum of 2,000 per month to 2,400 per month and further supports the
ability of lower-income residents to access personal care home services.
We are investing $20 million to
further advance the 240‑bed specialized long-term care facility in
Regina. And we are investing $10 million for additional long-term care
spaces in Saskatoon and Regina; $8 million to expand bed capacity in the
community and help alleviate pressures in Saskatoon’s hospitals; and $2.36 million
in additional funding to support the replacement of long-term care spaces here
in Regina.
Our government is also providing a
$40 million funding boost for affiliate long-term care providers which
will support them in continuing to provide high-quality long-term care across
36 third-party long-term care homes with just over 2,500 beds.
In conclusion I thank the committee for
giving me the opportunity to discuss these significant investments in our 2024‑25
Ministry of Health budget. I know we have accomplished a lot this past year,
but we also recognize much more work remains to be done as we continue to
tackle the challenges facing health care in our province.
I want to thank our partner agencies and
all the stakeholders for their contributions. There is a lot to look forward to
in this year with many health care improvements planned and already under way.
My officials and I will now be pleased to take your questions. Thank you very
much.
The
Chair: — Thank you, Minister. I will now open
the floor for questions. Mr. Love.
Mr.
Love: — Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks
to the minister for his remarks and for being willing to forgo the
introductions that were done yesterday. It is appreciated by my colleague and I
as we’ve got lots to cover this afternoon and this evening.
Just for the sake of your officials and
the ministers here, our intention is to divide the time tonight starting with
questions on seniors followed by my colleague bringing questions on rural and
remote health care and mental health and addictions, although there may be some
time at the end where we get in a few last questions that may be spread across
all of those areas.
When it comes to questions on seniors,
I’ll be focusing my time on questions related to long-term care, home care,
personal care, home supports, and staffing questions.
Minister, the first question is one that
I brought to you at the end of our time last night and wanted to give you an
opportunity to gather some information, so I’ll just quickly summarize this
question and then turn things over to you and your officials.
I noticed that last year in this
committee on April 3rd and then again on April 4th, I asked for the Health
minister, who was then minister for Seniors, to gather information on folks who
have left the long-term care workforce. So I asked on April 3rd if the SHA
[Saskatchewan Health Authority] tracks people leaving the workforce. He said
yes they do. I asked him to assemble this. He said his officials would be on
it.
I returned to that question on April 4th
and the minister committed to table that information. So that was a year and
six days ago. Although we did just receive a couple days ago another tabled
document from the April 4th meeting, so I realize that sometimes this takes
time. But I’m wondering if you have that information that you can provide to
the committee this evening.
Ms. Smith:
— Thank you for the question. Tracey Smith, deputy minister of Health. So your
question was in relation to . . . I think you had asked for the most
recent numbers around attrition in special-care long-term care homes. So for
the fiscal year of ’22‑23, there were 263.6 FTEs [full-time equivalent]
that were gone through attrition. Some of those reasons for attrition include
things like retirements, terminations, if somebody resigned, or they didn’t
pass probation. So those are some of the examples just in terms of the reason
for the attrition.
Mr.
Love: — Thanks, and a simple yes or no will
help me to know how to proceed. Do you have numbers available on hand to show
how that year would compare to, say, the previous five years before that?
Ms.
Smith: — Thanks for the question. So we don’t
have five years’ worth of data, but I do have the last couple, I guess the last
three fiscal years that I can provide. So I will just start with ’20‑21,
the number was 212.7 FTEs; for ’21‑22, 277.3 FTEs.
Mr.
Love: — All right. Thanks. I appreciate
that. What is your retention strategy for the long-term care workforce?
[16:00]
Ms. Smith:
— Thanks for the question. I’ll just maybe, just to give it a little bit of
context again, just to reinforce with the importance of this area and the
importance of staffing within our long-term care facilities, we have made
. . . In terms of the planned, the overarching plan would be our
health human resources plan that we’ve been working through over the course of
the last couple of years.
But what I would say, you know,
specifically around long-term care, government has made a significant increase
in terms of the number of CCAs [continuing care aide] within long-term care
facilities. So there’s been an incremental investment every year for the last
few years, for a total of 300 new CCA positions for that area.
So that’s, you know, that’s one example.
And I would say just in terms of . . . And I’m going to turn it over
to Mike Northcott, the VP [vice-president] with the Saskatchewan Health
Authority for human resources. But just in terms of the overarching retention
sort of strategy, I think we talked a lot last night about the importance of
the workplace and the importance of having a healthy workplace where staff feel
supported.
And I think that’s where the SHA, again
in terms of their planning and their focus, they’ve got some examples of where
they’re working with those teams across the province to ensure that staff in
those facilities feel supported and have a good work experience. So I’m going
to turn it over to Mike.
Mr. Northcott:
— Good afternoon. My name is Mike Northcott. I’m the chief human resources
officer with the SHA. I just want to start out with a statement around
demonstrating our appreciation for what the staff do each and every day. It’s
so important to us, and retention of those staff is so important to us.
I’ll maybe just walk through some of the
bigger areas of initiatives in terms of retention. And so I’ll maybe start with
leadership presence. We really want our leaders to engage their teams to really
be supportive of their teams. So we focused on some of the training that we
provide. Leadership essentials programming, intro to coaching skills for
leaders, core strengths, leadership coaching supports, crucial conversations,
introductions to the LEADS [lead self; engage others; achieve results; develop
coalitions; systems transformation] framework, succession planning, and provincial
mentorship program are some of the things that we do in that space.
Team effectiveness is also really
important. So we’ve all been in work environments where we have a great team
environment and support each other and work effectively as a team. So we
provide support around building effective teams: five behaviours of a cohesive
team program, core strengths, and developing team charters.
In terms of well-being and resilience,
this is a large area of focus for us. Some of the things that I would highlight
are LifeSpeak. So it’s an online platform. It’s an app that staff have access
to.
Workplace strategies for mental health.
The U of R’s [University of Regina] online therapy unit is available. Our EFAP
[employee family assistance program] program is available that provides support
on a wide variety of issues to staff as they want to access. It’s a
confidential service for them.
Recognition and rewards is a category.
So a recognition tool kit, long-service awards.
Mentorship is an area, too, that we’ve
emphasized more. It’s so important. We’ve all been new employees in a
profession or in an area, and having that mentor available is a game changer
for new staff. And it’s also rewarding for those more experienced staff that
can be the mentor.
Belonging, diversity, and inclusion. We
want everyone that comes to work each and every day to feel like they belong.
They belong to the team. Their unique skills that they bring are valued by the
team and the organization. So we’ve got strategies there around anti-racism,
Indigenous cultural awareness, and cultural responsiveness training. And Andrew
spoke to some of the great results that we’ve gotten in training in that
regard. And yeah, the First Nations and Métis retention aspects of that as
well. And Andrew spoke to the plan yesterday.
Mr.
Love: — Great. Thanks, Minister, for the
information that your officials provided. I may come back if time permits
later, just some questions about retention strategy and as it relates to that
work environment that the deputy minister mentioned.
I’m going to move on for now. Your
predecessor will know every year in this committee I ask this question. We’ve
joked in the past, it’s a tradition we have. I’d like to know — and I’m
guessing 2022‑23 will be the most recent year available — how many
continuing care aides were working in the province of Saskatchewan in
special-care homes?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — I just want to clarify: specifically
how many continuing care assistants in 2023 in special-care homes?
Mr. Love:
— Yeah, so typically this is broken up by FTEs, so it’s the total number of
FTEs. And it’s my prediction — you can tell me otherwise — that the most recent
data that you likely have is for 2022‑23. If you have anything more
recent, I’ll accept that as well in addition to that number. So looking for the
total number of FTEs of CCAs working in Saskatchewan.
[16:15]
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Thanks for the question, Mr. Love. I
just want to be clear, when I asked for clarification I think I heard you say,
how many FTE CCAs across Saskatchewan. But when you referenced the historical
question that you’ve been asking my colleague, you’re talking about in
long-term care.
Mr.
Love: — Yes.
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Okay. So in 2023 we had 5,089 paid
FTEs in long-term care, and that does not include CCAs that may be working in
hospitals or home care or other environments outside of long-term care. But the
number that you were asking for in previous years that you’re asking for in
this most recent year would be 5,089.
Mr.
Love: — Do you immediately have the number
employed in home care?
The
Chair: — Are you able to find the information
that was requested?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank
you to the member for your patience. It’s just you’re asking to extract a
specific set of data from a larger set of data, so that’s what the officials
were working to do. But I think we have found an answer for you.
Ms. Smith:
— Thanks for the question. So in terms of . . . Just again to give a
little bit of context, we had talked earlier about CCAs and long-term care.
What I can say is that we don’t have the ability to sort of pull out home care,
and I think was your question. Like, how many specifically for home care.
But what I am able to share is that from
a system-wide perspective, how many CCAs we have working within the system. So
for fiscal year ’22‑23, the number of paid FTEs is 6,441 FTEs.
Mr.
Love: — And that would include acute care,
hospitals, home care, long-term care, just across the board?
Ms. Smith:
— Yes, that’s correct.
Mr.
Love: — Okay. So Minister, as you might
expect, I’m just going to make a quick comment here and then move on to another
question. My job as critic is to hold the Government of Saskatchewan
accountable, and prior to the 2020 election, there’s a promise to hire 300
continuing care aides. After the election, it was announced that that would be
spread out over three years and not in one year. And since that time, when I
asked this question every time in committee as is expected, the number reported
to me has grown from 5,054 to 5,089. So I do see an increase this year of 18
FTEs, but I’m not sure how to possibly account for this being promises made and
promises kept.
I’m going to move on to a new question,
Minister.
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Would you like me to respond to
that?
Mr.
Love: — I’m going to ask another question
. . .
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — I’d be happy to provide you the
explanation why your math is off.
Mr.
Love: — Well it’s the numbers provided by ministers
in this committee on or near the same day every year, now four years in a row.
And I will ask for you to respond to that if you can while your officials
collect the next data points that I’m asking for. Then you can respond to that
question.
Can you provide me an updated number of
total spaces or beds — or whatever the language is that your government and the
ministry uses — total number of long-term care spaces broken down by SHA and
affiliate homes and also broken down by region, however the ministry
. . . I know with the amalgamation of health regions it’s different,
but I understand the ministry still does break it down by region. And if you
could also provide the wait times in each of those regions for somebody waiting
to access long-term care.
And then while your officials collect
that, if you’d like to respond, I’d certainly be willing to hear you out.
[16:30]
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Thanks, Mr. Love. While the
officials are working on that, yeah, I did just want to respond to your comments
about the 300 CCAs. That was a promise committed to by this government, and it
has absolutely been fulfilled. And the reason for that is there are 300 new
positions that did not exist at the time that that promise was made. Three
hundred positions have been created, and all of those positions have been
filled.
The reason your number doesn’t look
right is because you’re not accounting for anybody that ever retired. You’re
not accounting for anybody that maybe passed away. You’re not accounting for the
fluctuation in the vacancies that happen. But the promise was to create 300 new
positions. That promise has been kept. We’ve created 300 new CCA positions. All
of them have been hired, and those are 300 new paid positions.
Mr. Love: — So, Minister, and I know it’s your
first time in this committee in this role. In previous conversations with your
predecessor, who’s also here, it was discussed that the commitment was over and
above the vacancies that exist. So while your officials are busy looking for some
numbers, would you also tell me how many vacancies there are currently in
Saskatchewan for CCAs?
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you. So I’ll answer your last
question first about the vacancies with the CCAs. The question was, how many
CCA vacancies do we currently have? As of today, a point-in-time, we have 182
vacancies across Saskatchewan, CCA vacancies across Saskatchewan, which
represents a 1.9 per cent vacancy rate when compared to our total CCA head
count across the province.
And
your previous question, Tracey will answer.
Ms.
Smith:
— Thanks, Minister. Just circling back to your question around the number of
long-term care beds across the province, and then you had a series of
questions. So maybe I’ll just start with the overarching number.
So
as of March of 2023, the total number of long-term care beds provincially was
8,620. Of that number, 2,579 are affiliates.
And
then to answer your . . . I think you had made a note that we would
collect this information by former health region. We don’t have that
information by health region. We don’t have that available by health region.
And
you had I think, just sort of moving forward, you had asked about wait times I
think was your other question. So just give me one moment. So point-in-time,
and I’ll maybe just again give a point-in-time of September of ’23 is our
latest information that we have. So the average wait time in days provincially
was 22.
Mr. Love: — And in the past in this committee
those wait times have been available. And when I referenced former health
regions, I at least tried to indicate however you now collect that information.
So whatever system you have, I’m willing to accept, both for beds and for wait
times, because in the past officials did have wait times available for
Saskatoon, Regina, sometimes other regions, you know, north, south. Like
however you collect it, I’m certainly open to.
Now
for the sake of time, Minister, would you commit to tabling the wait times by
whatever regional breakdown is reasonable or done at the ministry? Can you
commit to tabling that in a timely way for this committee?
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Actually I think we track it by
surface area and I believe we have it available for the committee tonight.
Tracey can provide that.
Ms.
Smith:
— Thanks, Minister. So I can, in terms of the wait times, I can go over the
wait times by service area, and it sounds like that’s the same information that
you’ve been provided in the past. So point-in-time again being September of
’23, and I’ll start with service area.
So
I’ll start with service area northeast, the average wait time in days was 69;
northwest, 42; southeast, 2 days; southwest, 3 days; Regina, 50 days; and
Saskatoon, 48 days.
Mr. Love: — That’s great. Thank you for that
information. Moving on to some questions about home care and home support. What
is the wait time for home care services in Saskatchewan broken down by service
area? Let’s just stick with that. What’s the wait time for home care services?
[16:45]
Mr.
Havervold:
— Good afternoon. Brad Havervold, acting assistant deputy minister. Thanks for
the question around home care.
So
in terms of home care waits, that’s not information that we collect
specifically, either through the ministry or through the Health Authority. Home
care is such a varied program that it’s difficult to measure what waits look
like.
I
would say the acute side of home care where people are getting, say, home IV
[intravenous] therapy or wound care, that planning for home care often happens
while the individual is in hospital so that when they’re discharged, home care
happens within the next day. And they’re often seen by home care. So that would
be a service that would be based on need but would have relatively little
wait, if at all.
Individuals
that are seeking supportive care, so for instance getting assistance with a
bath or something like that, individuals would be assessed based on their level
of need, and then they would be triaged based on their level of need. And those
with the greatest need would be, you know, queued in first for those kinds of
services or if they had other supports around them or a lack of other supports
around them. So I think that’s the important piece is it’s really based on the
assessed level of need — determines where and when, the volume of service that
you’d get.
In
past years of course we made investments into home care through individualized
funding programs. There was targeted funding to expand home care, etc., and
those funds are continuing in ’24‑25.
Mr. Love: — So as a follow-up question,
Minister, and to your official, Mr. Havervold spoke about kind of two
categories of home care that are provided, some that might be more acute
providing support for maybe post-hospital or maybe palliative care, you know,
and more long-term, maybe perhaps targeted for an older adult wanting to remain
living independently in their own home in need of home care.
[17:00]
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — So Mr. Love, your question asked to
break down into two categories. There’s actually three categories. There’s
acute, there’s supportive, and there’s palliative as the three home care
categories.
We don’t break down the spending in each
of those categories, but we do have a total number if you’re interested in
that. The total spend in 2022‑23 was $215,139,618.
And you’d asked, I believe, about the
maximum amount that an individual can receive. The maximum is actually in
hours, not in dollars. So under the acute category, the maximum hours to an
individual is . . . pardon me. Sorry, Mr. Love, I misspoke. This is
the maximum amount of hours that were provided in each of those, not just to an
individual, but the maximum amount . . . the actual amount provided,
pardon me: 235,983 hours of acute services; supportive services, 837,074 hours;
and palliative, 92,071 hours.
Mr.
Love: — A simple yes or no will do here,
Minister. So is there a maximum number of hours or units of care that an
individual is eligible to receive of home care?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — To answer your question, Mr. Love,
there’s no fixed maximum. The maximum hours provided are based on the assessed
need of the individual.
Mr.
Love: — Okay, thank you. This will be my
last set of questions until I turn things over to a colleague, and I’m hoping
that he’ll give me time later in the evening because I’ve still got lots to get
through.
I’m wondering if the minister can give
an update to the committee on the Brightwater pilot project. I’ll give a little
bit of context here, and some information that I’m looking for. I understand —
through a tabled document here that I requested in committee last year that was
tabled recently — that the SHA provided Brightwater with $10.9 million to
provide 100 long-term care beds and 1.35 million for 12 ALC [alternative
level of care] beds in 2022‑23. How much money did Brightwater receive in
’23‑24? Is there any change to the number of beds and the type of service
provided?
And also, Minister, if you could
comment: in this committee last year we learned that Brightwater doesn’t employ
any CCAs, and that they employ personal service workers, which I understand not
to be a professional designation recognized within the SHA.
So if you could provide an update on
what’s happening with the pilot project, the funds disbursed in last year and
in this year’s budget for the pilot project, and also a comment on if you think
it’s appropriate to fund to a private institution, you know, upwards of
$12 million to a facility that doesn’t employ the same trained individuals
that are employed in every other long-term care facility in the province.
There’s a lot there. If I can clarify
anything later, I’m happy to do so.
[17:15]
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — So with regard to the first part of
your question about the dollar amount received for ’23‑24, that number is
not yet available given that we’re so close to the end of the fiscal year. I
can say that the projected amount is very consistent with last year’s total
that was provided to you. But when that amount is available, we can certainly
provide it.
With regard to the other parts of your
question, Brad is going to provide the answer.
Mr. Havervold: — Thank you. So
the question about have the numbers of beds changed in the pilot project over
time: the number of long-term care beds has stayed static at 100 through the pilot
project; the number of ALC beds fluctuates. And some of those ALC beds that
have been part of that separate arrangement are gradually being migrated over
to be more permanent long-term care beds as part of that.
So the number of beds in each of those
categories sort of changes as personal care home people leave and you replace
it with a long-term care. So at any point in time the goal is to migrate more
of the beds to the long-term care pilot. So you know, to say any day those
numbers of beds could fluctuate and change between the programs.
Mr.
Love: — And, Minister, did you have a
response to my question about the appropriateness of not employing any trained
CCAs in this facility yet receiving fully funded amounts for long-term care?
Did you have a response to that? If not, I’ll turn things over to my colleague.
Mr. Havervold:
— Yeah, I can comment on sort of some of the rules of this pilot. The pilot is
just that. It’s been a pilot, and it was us trialling something different. And
because the facility itself is a licensed personal care home, they are required
to follow the rules that are applied to personal care homes, which means you
have the appropriate staffing for the care of the needs of the residents that
are there. But I would add that because they are providing long-term care under
contract through the Health Authority, they are required to have registered
nurses on staff.
They have, you know, all of the
medication safety protocols that apply to long-term care. They’re subject to
inspections by our ministry long-term care inspection teams, as well as
reporting and accountability of critical incidents to the ministry as well as
to the personal care homes program. They do participate in the quality
indicator monitoring, like all of our long-term care homes in terms of rates of
falls, medication errors, those sorts of things. So they are overseen and
guided and sort of governed, if you would, like it would be any other long-term
care facility.
Mr.
Love: — Okay. Thanks for that response.
We’ll see if I get any time at the end of the evening, but for now I think I’ll
turn it over to some of the other areas that are before the committee tonight
with my colleague, Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke:
— Thank you. I’m hoping we can return to the rapid-fire, rapid-response
agreement we had last night with Minister Hindley. But I’ve got a long question
to start.
Based on information contained in the
Canadian Institute for Health Information report, The State of the Health
Workforce in Canada, 2022, it appears that we may be losing ground in the
recruitment and retention of health care providers in rural and remote
communities.
The report indicates, between 2018 and
2022, the per cent of health care providers in the province practising in rural
or remote communities declined. Family medicine physicians from 22.1 per cent
in 2018 to 20.8 per cent in 2022. Nurse practitioners, 52.1 per cent to 43 per
cent. Registered nurses, 21.2 per cent to 15.8 per cent. Pharmacists, 21.6 per
cent to 20 per cent.
[17:30]
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Mr. Clarke, thank you for the question.
You asked for a lot of data and it’s not all in the same place, so we’re going
to have different officials answer the different pieces of the question that
you asked. The first piece, with respect to family doctors, we’ll have Ingrid
answer that question.
Ms.
Kirby:
— Ingrid Kirby, assistant deputy minister. So this is a snapshot in time, so as
of March 31st, 2023 there were 257 actively practising general practitioners
working in rural communities. As a total, there were 968 actively practising general
practitioners in the province at that time which means 26.5 per cent of
physicians were practising in rural communities.
Mr.
Gettle:
— Greg Gettle, assistant deputy minister with the Ministry of Health. So the
numbers that I would have are the most recent numbers that we have available.
So the time frame is April 1st of 2022 to March 31st of 2023. And so this will
be a total paid FTE number, and it’s for the SHA affiliates and the
Saskatchewan Cancer Agency.
So
for nurse practitioners, the FTE number was 153. For pharmacists it would be
275. And again for pharmacists what I would point out is this would just be for
SHA and affiliates. Most pharmacists would work in community pharmacy which
would not be part of these numbers. And then registered nurses, FTEs, we had
8,124.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Those are province-wide numbers for those three?
Mr.
Gettle:
— They would be all paid FTEs within the Saskatchewan Health Authority
affiliates and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you. And then what percentage would those be in rural and remote?
Mr.
Gettle:
— Unfortunately we don’t have that information. We don’t track it in that
manner.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Could you figure that out though, because you’d know where those are based?
Mr. Gettle: — Thank you for the question. Due to
the limitations of the system, we’re not able to track it in that manner.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you. The media backgrounder that was released on budget day stated that
there would be a $785,000 increase to stabilize emergency rooms in rural and
remote areas to support registered nurses and administrative staff recruits as
well as rural trauma training for physicians. I’m wondering which rural and
remote communities will receive this funding, and how much for each community,
and for which of the purposes stated in the backgrounder.
Ms. Kirby: — All right. Thank you for the
question. So the funding we received this year, the 785,000 was targeted to the
communities of Kindersley, Nipawin, Meadow Lake, and La Ronge, and it’s
annualization of funding that we received in previous years.
[17:45]
So
in ’23‑24 we received 2.17 million, and that was for something we’re
calling our emergency room hub. So these are larger emergency rooms in our
rural communities who serve a larger catchment. And so to bolster some of the
services they provide and provide some more stability, what we did was we added
additional registered nursing into those emergency departments so that they had
two RNs [registered nurse] on 24‑7.
The
other thing we did was provided some additional funding for things like having
a pharmacist available 24‑7 to the emergency department so that if there
is a, you know, middle-of-the-night question and they need an urgent consult
with a pharmacist, it would support that as well.
It
also provided some additional trauma training for those rural physicians. These
communities are large. Like they’re active; they’re busy communities. And so it
provided additional trauma training for those physicians so that they could
handle anything that walked through the door.
So
it was really annualization of positions that we added in previous years. And
so this kind of builds on some of the work we’ve been doing across, you know,
complements in a lot of the rural recruitment strategies and really supports
those rural positions and those nurses working in those busy emergency
departments. So I think that answers your questions.
Mr. Clarke:
— Thank you. The media backgrounder also noted that funding for
$1.8 million increase to expand access to nurse practitioners by
permanently funding eight positions in four communities. The wording is a bit,
you know, interesting here. So are these positions that are already in place
but they’re being made permanent? Or are these positions incremental to actual
positions, whether they’re permanent, temporary, or casual, that were in place
during 2023‑2024? I’m wondering which four communities and how many in
each community.
Ms.
Kimens: — Thank you for the question. It’s
Melissa Kimens, executive director. So your question was about annualized
funding for eight nurse practitioner positions. In this budget there is funding
provided for three positions in Warman, three in Martensville, one in Melville,
and one in Canora. So those are positions that were announced, hired previously
but had been a pressure to the ministry. And so funding was received through
budget to support them going forward.
Mr. Clarke:
— Thank you. Same kind of a question around adding 250 new and enhanced full-time
positions. The backgrounder noted $11.6 million for an increase for a
total annual funding of 33.8 million to stabilize rural and remote
staffing, which supports the commitment to add 250 new and enhanced full-time,
permanent positions in nine high-priority classifications in 54 rural and
remote communities.
Can you explain what you mean when you
say “250 new and enhanced full-time, permanent positions”?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — As part of our engagement with
front-line health care workers in our rural and remote communities, one of the
things that Minister Hindley and myself, and Minister Merriman before us,
certainly heard was, with regard to recruitment and retention strategy, there
have been positions that were either part-time or temporary and posted but not
receiving very many applications.
So what we mean by “enhanced” is
temporary or part-time positions have been enhanced to full-time permanent
positions. And that’s both with respect to vacant postings, but also with
respect to current employees to help with retention. If an individual was
employed as a part-time or as a temporary, some positions in these designations
across these 54 communities would be enhanced to permanent full-time positions.
By “new” we obviously mean those
positions didn’t exist at all before, and so there’s 250 new or enhanced
positions that have been added as a result of this.
Mr. Clarke:
— So how many of those would be new of the 250? How many new full-time
permanent positions are created?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — So thanks for the question. I just
want to clarify there’s 250 permanent full-time positions that did not exist
before. So there’s 250 new full-time positions. Some of those would have
replaced casual or temporary or part-time. Some didn’t exist at all before. But
250 permanent full-time positions now exist that did not exist before within
the system.
Of that 250, 232 have already been
filled, but we don’t have the current breakdown of the 232 yet. The last point
at which we tracked the breakdown was as of December 31st, 2023. At that time
we had 216 of the 250 filled: 43 of those are what you would refer to as
enhanced where they replaced a casual or temporary part-time; 173 were
absolutely new.
Mr. Clarke:
— Thank you. Would you be able to provide or table the list of the 54
communities and how many positions and what type of position in each of the
communities?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Thanks for the question. So yes, we
can provide the 232 of the 250 positions that have been hired as of March 28th,
2024 in the following communities and the following classifications. We have
Arcola . . .
Mr. Clarke:
— Minister, I’m just wondering if you can table it. No, I don’t want to
. . . I only have a limited time here, so I don’t want to read the 54
communities. I’m just wondering if you can table that document.
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — So I have the list in front of me.
It’s not in a format that can be tabled tonight. So it would take some time to
table it later or I can provide it right now, whichever your preference.
Mr. Clarke:
— Could you commit to tabling it tomorrow in the session?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — I don’t think tomorrow provides us
enough time to put it in the format that it can be tabled, but it could
certainly be tabled . . .
Mr. Clarke:
— Next week?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Next week would be appropriate,
yeah.
Mr. Clarke:
— Okay. Thank you. Can you give me an update on the current status of the
microbial lab services in Weyburn?
[18:15]
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Thanks for the question. So there
has been no change. Microbiology services are still available in Weyburn. No
services have been removed.
Mr. Clarke:
— Thank you, Minister. Can you confirm if there’s funding allocated this year
for the Yorkton hospital replacement and the Esterhazy hospital, the Rosthern
Hospital, and the Battlefords care home? Any funding allocated in this year’s
budget?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — For which?
Mr. Clarke:
— Yorkton hospital replacement, the Esterhazy hospital, the Rosthern Hospital,
and the Battlefords care home.
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — So I’ll just go back to my opening
remarks. I listed some of the capital investments for our rural and northern
communities. In that were the communities that you asked for. We have other
capital investments. If you’re interested, I can repeat those.
But the Yorkton hospital is receiving,
or we have allocated $1 million for planning for the Yorkton Regional
Health Centre replacement; with regard to Esterhazy, $250,000 for planning for
the Esterhazy St. Anthony’s Hospital replacement; $250,000 for planning for the
Rosthern Hospital replacement project; and $250,000 for planning for the
Battleford District Care Centre replacement. I think that was your list.
Mr. Clarke:
— Thank you, Minister. Alongside with amalgamation when SHA was created, the
ministry was supposed to strengthen community health advisory networks. How
come these were dissolved instead, and what is the feedback mechanism to hear
local voices now?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — So I’d like to begin by simply
pointing out that The Provincial Health Authority Act recognizes
community advisory networks that were already in place when the SHA was formed
with specific provision that recognizes that these relationships continue.
Nothing has been dissolved as your question suggests. That’s factually not
accurate.
Further to that, community advisory
networks are only one of many forms that communities choose to engage with
their provincial government on local health issues. We have mayors, reeves,
councils, health committees, local foundations, regional groups and
associations, SARM [Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities], SUMA
[Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association], as well as the Health minister
and myself and all of our local MLAs [Member of the Legislative Assembly] who
regularly engage with people and on behalf of the people that we represent.
Local representation in health care is
always evolving and it’s important for the elected representatives of
Saskatchewan to be responsive and to that end to engage with local communities
through their own organizations. We do not have a one-size-fits-all approach to
how we engage with our rural and northern communities when it comes to health
care.
[18:30]
And I’d point out that we have formally
recognized community advisory networks. We have several of them in the
province. There are Twin Rivers health care foundation; Esterhazy Health
Foundations; South East medical group; Meadow Lake and area community health
advisory network; Lakeland regional community health advisory network; the
Lloydminster and district health advisory committee; Paradise Hill health
advisory committee; St. Walburg health advisory committee; Pine Island Lodge;
Highway 16 health advisory committee in Maidstone; Cut Knife health advisory
committee; St. Peter’s Hospital Foundation in Melville; East Central health
foundation, Yorkton; the Assiniboine Valley Health & Wellness Foundation;
Indian Head Hospital Foundation; Moosomin & District Health Care
Foundation; St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation in Estevan; Dr. Noble Irwin
Regional Healthcare Foundation in Maple Creek; Weyburn & District Hospital
Foundation; North Central Health Care Foundation in Melfort; the DEK/ANHH [All
Nations’ Healing Hospital] Foundation Fund in partnership with the south Saskatchewan
community fund in Fort Qu’Appelle; Moose Jaw Health Foundation; South Country
Health Care Foundation; Rosetown Health Foundation; Outlook and District Health
Foundation; and the Victoria Hospital Foundation.
So as you can see, we did not dissolve the
community advisory networks, and we regularly and frequently engage with our
communities and municipal leaders and local health committees to find solutions
to the challenges that we face in rural and northern communities.
Mr. Clarke:
— Thank you, Minister. We hear from folks that there is no formal feedback
mechanism to provide back to government. But I’m going to move on because I’m
running out of time here.
Registered psychiatric nurses conducted
a labour market analysis and they looked at the needs based on their current
complement of folks employed in Saskatchewan. Their analysis shows that they
are in need of 120 training seats to keep pace with demand and retirements. How
many seats do they currently have?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Sorry?
Mr. Clarke:
— How many training seats in the province are there for registered psychiatric
nurses?
Hon.
Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you.
Thank you for the question. Currently
there are 80 RPN [registered psychiatric nurse] training seats in Saskatchewan.
And in this fiscal year, in ’24‑25, we’ll be adding 24 more for a total
of 104 total training seats for RPNs. And that is 104 more training seats than
there were in 2007.
Mr. Clarke: — Thank you, Minister. Does the
ministry conduct its own health workforce needs assessment, looking at
registered psychiatric nurses? And how many RPNs does it think we need?
[18:45]
Mr. Northcott: — Hi, Mike Northcott here again. So I
would just highlight in the ’22‑23 budget, there was an additional 24
seats added which brought it to 80, and then the additional 24 that brought it
to 104. So we’re really pleased with that investment.
I
wanted to give context that our system doesn’t differentiate between RN and
RPN. So from a data perspective, I don’t have that.
In
terms of how we utilize, it’s a constant evaluation to make sure that we’re
aligning the skill set with the needs of patients. And the capacity that’s
being added through these additional seats is a factor and an important one.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you. So, Minister, am I correct in interpreting that answer to suggest
that there is no target number of RPNs that we need in Saskatchewan for our
population?
Mr. Northcott: — Yeah, I would just highlight that
that’s a constant evaluation by our leaders in the mental health and addictions
space.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you. In the auditor’s report from 2023, she reported on the very
alarming waits in Prince Albert service area for children and youth psychiatric
services, with a child waiting 130 days while experiencing severe symptoms. I
understand that as of July, all three child psychiatric positions were vacant
in the Prince Albert area. Are those three still vacant?
Mr.
Turner: — Good evening. I’m James Turner. I’m
assistant deputy minister. So specific to psychiatry FTEs, there are three FTEs
for child and youth psychiatry in P.A. [Prince Albert]. One is currently
filled. So one FTE is filled; two are vacant. But 0.4 of the vacancy is on a
mat leave and so expected to return. So that’s the FTE vacancy for psychiatry.
But
also important to talk about I think, as part of that overall team, the
enhancement to the team in P.A. And I think it was mentioned earlier that there
is enhanced mental health nursing supports in the emergency department in P.A.
to enhance around that team to also offload some of the burden off of
psychiatrists, as well as 7.5 FTE nurses to assist, 1.0 FTE nurse practitioner,
and a 1.0 FTE pharmacist. And so those FTEs, the investment in those FTEs, is
another total of $1.4 million in addition to the psychiatry FTEs.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you. Another quick and simple question. How many psychologists work
directly in SHA and in our schools?
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — So we have 118 psychologists
employed across the Ministry of Health, and that would be through SHA and
affiliates. I can’t speak to how many psychologists might be employed by
individual school divisions. That would be information you’d have to get from
Education.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you. You’ve talked a lot about recovery in the House, but I think we need
to fund the continuum of care when it comes to mental health and addiction. And
we’re going to see consequences of not funding that.
[19:00]
Ms.
Code:
— Hi there. Jillian Code with the Ministry of Health, executive director of
population health. So just to respond to your question, through The Public
Health Act, all communicable diseases are reported and so we do keep track
of all new diseases that are reported into the system. And so that would
include diseases like HIV [human immunodeficiency virus], hep C — any of the
communicable diseases that would be sexually transmitted or blood-borne
infections. And so we do track that.
And
as part of that process and the investigation piece, they do keep track of
indicators that would speak to what are potential risk factors that were
associated. So there may be a number of variable risk factors that are tracked
within the system as well. And so we do try and keep statistics on that and a
line of sight on that.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you. It was my understanding when we’re talking about HIV that the
highest cause of transmission of new HIV cases in this province is caused by
the sharing of drug paraphernalia. We already have an alarming rate of HIV and
hepatitis C in this province. I would implore the minister to listen to his
officials when talking about where these new HIV infection rates are coming
from.
And
how does the minister expect that the recent policy changes here that are being
talked about in the House are going to impact the already alarming rates of
HIV?
Hon. Mr. Hindley: — Thank you. Just I think we’ve got a
bit more information from some of the member’s questions last night around
biopsy numbers in Saskatoon. And I’ll call up Deb Bulych from the Saskatchewan
Cancer Agency to share some of that information, just as we’d committed we’d
follow up with you once we got those details.
Ms.
Bulych:
— Hi. Deb Bulych, CEO [chief executive officer], Saskatchewan Cancer Agency.
Thanks for the opportunity to respond in terms of the wait for biopsy.
As
we know, it’s 134 days in Saskatoon. When we talk about the length of time to
biopsy, we also need to consider the amount of time afterwards that it takes to
get pathology results as well, because we know in our province and everywhere
really that the time for cancer patients starts ticking the moment they’re even
suspecting something’s wrong.
We
have a number of wait time guidelines that I won’t bother you with because
they’re pretty complex in terms of the type of cancer as well as the subsets of
types within each one of those cancers. But what I will tell you is we’ve taken
the opportunity to work with our Health Authority partners in remedying this as
best we can.
There
is a wait across Canada with our current workforce environment in terms of
getting those pathology results back. We’re experiencing it in Saskatchewan
similar to all of our provincial colleagues across Canada. So a couple, a few
things that we’ve done . . . And I will say we’re very proud to work
collaboratively with our SHA partners in remedying this situation.
We’ve
developed what we call our quick line. What that is, is it’s an email system
that allows our oncologists to work directly with the SHA teams in order to
prioritize the need for which pathologies, which biopsies need to happen
urgently. Our oncologists carry that expertise in terms of these wait times and
what is a safe wait and what is not. So that quick line exists where they do
talk to one another, and it helps prioritize.
[19:15]
The
other thing that it has led us to do is we currently book only two weeks out
now. So if you’re a new consult needing to come to the Cancer Agency, we used
to book you into a four-week window. We’re now booking only two weeks out to
allow the opportunity for any urgent patients to be seen urgently. And urgent
for us is when we get a pathology back and you’re within an urgent window or
you’re starting to slip outside of what is considered an acceptable wait time
for us to see you and treat you, we will book you in within 24 to 72 hours. And
changing the way that we’re scheduling has allowed us to do that.
There
are some cancers, oddly enough, that don’t need to be seen within weeks. These
are people . . . some of them might be like a low-risk person with a
low-risk prostate cancer that we are just providing hormone therapy. An
acceptable wait for them is actually months, not weeks.
But
in order to take care of them and to remedy some of their worry, we have new
patient navigators and referral centre nurses who are reaching out to them and
offering a lot of support and understanding that it’s actually safe for some
longer waits. So it’s been a bit of a juggle for us, but I’m so proud of our
clinical teams and very proud of the collaboration with the SHA in order to
make this work.
I
can provide for you if you’d like some of the wait times as of March 4th if
you’d like that information.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Sure.
Ms.
Bulych:
— Okay. Tell me if it’s too much, all right?
Mr.
Clarke:
— I do want to get the answer from Minister McLeod, but . . . Go
ahead, Minister.
Hon. Mr. Hindley: — A point of clarification. Was it 134
days or patients? I thought it was 134 patients. You may have said “days.”
Ms.
Bulych:
— Oh, I’m sorry. I said “days.”
Hon. Mr. Hindley: — There we go.
Ms.
Bulych:
— Sorry. My apologies.
Hon. Mr. Hindley: — Yeah. Sorry.
Ms.
Bulych:
— Yeah, 134 waiting.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Is Minister McLeod ready? I’m going to go to him first, please. Yeah. And if
you . . . Deb, if you want to go . . . Sorry. If you want
30 seconds.
Ms.
Bulych:
— I will blaze through it.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Sure.
Ms.
Bulych:
— Okay. So for gyne-oncology, 100 per cent of patients are seen for consult as
new patients within 28 days; in hematology, 93 per cent are seen within 28
days; radiation oncology, 91 per cent within 28 days; medical oncology, 85 per
cent within 28 days. And then all of the treatment timelines are over 90 per
cent of patients starting treatment within three weeks.
So
we are proud to say that we’re still meeting national clinical guidelines for
wait times. And the other part of this is also that we’ve started working a lot
of extended hours and evenings and weekends in order to make sure that people
are seen and treated.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you.
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Thanks for your question. I do want
to point out though that your question is premised on some assumptions that
you’re making. Firstly, our policy change that you’re referring to in the question
was only just announced on January the 18th and implemented on February the
1st. So it’s far too early to make any conclusions on the impact of that
policy, particularly when the other things we are doing together with our
announcements include things like connecting people who are battling addictions
with more services.
We’re
also making further investments in improving the provincial testing capacity to
expand access to testing for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections. I
would point out also part of the policy still allows for the provision of clean
needles.
So
the question itself is premised with assumptions, and it doesn’t take into
account the fact that we are taking many other steps to protect individuals who
are battling addiction and helping to connect them with services that will help
get them off of drugs and get them into treatment.
We’re
wrapping those services and supports around those individuals so that they’re
not using needles, that they’re not using crack pipes. And that connection to
those services will have a significant positive impact on saving lives and
healing families.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you, Minister. I mean I don’t think it’s an assumption that new
infections of HIV are predominantly caused by the sharing of drug paraphernalia
in Saskatchewan. That is a fact. Your officials can tell you that. We are the
only province in Canada where that is the case.
My
question was, how does the ministry expect that their recent policy changes
will impact the HIV rates? I understand that the policy was just announced, but
what’s the expectation?
The Chair: — I just want to take note that we
have 10 minutes left.
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — So, Mr. Clarke, I think your
question was, what’s the expectation of our policy changes? The expectation of
our policy changes is that we will be getting more people the supports that
they need. We will be getting more people off of drugs. We will be getting more
people into treatment and recovery so that they’re not exposed to dangerous
drugs, so that they’re not addicted to dangerous drugs, so that they’re not
overdosing, so that they’re not sharing drug paraphernalia, so that they’re not
contracting HIV, and so that they’re not dying.
The
expectation of our policy is that individuals will receive the message that no
illicit drugs are safe and that we have help available through treatment and
that there is hope for recovery for those individuals. That’s the expectation
of our policy.
Mr.
Clarke:
— Thank you, Minister. My question was the expected change on the rates of HIV,
not on how people are coping with addictions, so thank you for your answer. We
are running out of time. I do want to make note as we’re talking about HIV and
hepatitis C, it is this government that has blocked third-party organizations
from coming into schools to teach children about HIV and hepatitis C,
blood-borne infections, which is in the Saskatchewan curriculum.
Anyway
we have, I think, time for one more question. I’m going to pass it over to my
colleague here for the last question.
Mr. Love: — Thanks, Mr. Clarke. Minister McLeod,
I have a two-part question. I’m going to ask you to table some information, and
then I’d like your response to my question. Would you be willing to table for
the committee a list and the number of beds of all ALC patients that are being
placed in, I think, what you described as community settings?
We
heard from Mr. Will at length yesterday about the efforts, and good to see a
reduction in the number of patients living in ALC beds in hospitals and acute
care settings. Can you table a list of the locations and the number of beds at
each location where those ALC patients are being moved to?
And
then for you to respond to this evening, there’s a news story today about a
“Family concerned about Sask program moving patients from hospitals to private
care homes.” There’s also reports — that I cannot verify and so I’m going to
ask you — of an assault that took place at a care home for an older adult who
had been living in this home, assaulted by somebody who was recently moved
there through this effort to move some of these ALC patients into beds. So my
question for you this evening . . .
The Chair: — Mr. Love.
Mr. Love: — Do you have any concerns
. . .
The Chair: — I just wanted to point out that
particular question doesn’t follow along for the estimates, the type of
question you’re asking the minister. It will be up to the minister whether or
not he chooses to answer that question.
Mr. Love: — In the estimates is a program to
move people out of ALC beds.
The Chair: — But the assault that you’re talking
about.
Mr. Love: — But it’s a result of these dollars.
The Chair: — I give the minister the choice
whether or not he wants to answer the question. I’ll allow you to finish it.
Mr. Love: — Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. He can
choose. So as far as the safety of this program, if you could put any comments
on the record tonight and assurances that your government is taking to ensure
that existing and new residents in personal care homes are being kept safe.
[19:30]
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you, Madam Chair, and the
committee for your patience. Yes, we can table a list of the ALC beds and
locations as requested.
And
with regard to your question on an allegation at one of the personal care
homes, I understand that an allegation was made and that the personal care home
provider is conducting its own investigation. The ministry, as the regulator of
personal care homes, is conducting our own investigation as we would with any
allegation arising out of any personal care home.
The Chair: — Thank you, Minister. Having reached
our agreed-upon time for consideration of these estimates, we will adjourn
consideration of the estimates and supplementary estimates no. 2 for the
Ministry of Health. Minister, do you have any closing comments?
Hon. Mr. T. McLeod: — Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just
like to thank yourself and certainly the committee, Mr. Clarke and Mr. Love for
your questions this evening. Certainly thank you to my officials, Tracey Smith
and the many officials who continue to support Minister Hindley and I every day
and do such great work for the Ministry of Health and the people of
Saskatchewan. And I would thank LAS [Legislative Assembly Service] staff and
Hansard for your patience and your work with us as always.
The Chair: — Thank you, Minister. Mr. Love or
Clarke, do you have any closing comments?
Mr. Love: — Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ll
echo many of the words from Minister McLeod. And I want to thank the ministers
and all the officials here this evening for the answers that you provided. The
assistance that you provide to these ministers tonight and every day for these
ministers and for our province and for the people of Saskatchewan who are
seeking to get health care when they need it and where they need it, we thank
you for your efforts for that.
I
want to thank all of the building staff, Hansard and broadcast and Clerks. And
I also want to give a special thanks to my colleague Vicki Mowat, who couldn’t
be here tonight, but she put a lot of work into preparing my colleague and I
and has just been an excellent advocate for better health care in Saskatchewan.
I want to thank her for the efforts she put into this evening as well. Thank
you.
The Chair: — Thank you. I too would like to
thank, Minister and your officials, committee members, all of the Legislative
Assembly officials here tonight, and building staff.
That
concludes our business for today. I would ask a member to move a motion of
adjournment. Mr. Nerlien has moved. All agreed?
Some Hon. Members: — Agreed.
The Chair: — The committee stands adjourned until
Monday, April 15th, 2024 at 3:30 p.m.
[The committee adjourned at 19:36.]
Published
under the authority of the Hon. Randy Weekes, Speaker
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