REGINA - For the fifth time during this fall session, the opposition New Democrats have attempted to introduce an emergency motion in the Assembly, this time on health care.
Again, that attempt has met the same fate as the previous four efforts: it has gone down the tubes.
The NDP motion from Health Critic Vicki Mowat on Monday was to strike a bipartisan healthcare task force, which the Opposition pointed out was something the Sask Party government had also committed to doing as a campaign pledge.
But just prior to the motion being formally presented, the government signalled in Question Period that they would instead be focusing on the other initiatives it was pursuing on health care.
“This is not a time for committees, this is a time for action,” said Premier Scott Moe during Question Period.
Unsurprisingly, when it came time for Mowat to present her emergency motion, it failed to get the unanimous consent it needed to enter debate under the rules, as the Sask Party majority loudly shouted “no.”
Afterwards, Mowat vented her frustrations to reporters.
“This motion today was an opportunity for us to put partisanship aside and work together to find solutions in healthcare which are desperately needed,” Mowat said.
“People sent us to the legislature to work together, to represent their interests and not to play political games. And so, this is an opportunity for us to do that work, to look for those solutions. And it's incredibly disappointing to see the government not take us up on that offer.”
Despite Premier Moe’s words saying “this is not a time for committees,” Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill indicated to reporters afterwards that the government was still committed to establishing a health care task force.
“As I talked about in the House today, we're working on establishing a patient-focused task force, and that's in concert with the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the three provider healthcare unions. I was able to have a meeting with Ms. (Tracy) Zambory from the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses last week and speak about that and speak to how we could use a task force, again, to address some of the challenges that we see in terms of recruitment, in terms of the use of contract nursing, the amount of... overtime that some nurses work in our facility, and making sure that our healthcare system is one where nurses, whether they're an RN or RN or LPN or RPN, of all disciplines, have an opportunity to have a work environment that's going to work for them. “
He said it was going to be a “good opportunity” to engage with frontline employees.
“Certainly, the people of Saskatchewan have my commitment and this government's commitment that we're going to be engaging directly with those frontline healthcare workers.”
As for when that Task Force might be established, Cockrill replied he was hoping for early in the new year.
“Again, I've spoken with Saskatchewan Union of Nurses on this directly since coming into the file. There was obviously an invitation sent to SUN and the three provider unions back in September. I look forward to meeting with the three provider unions. I was supposed to have a meeting today actually with one of them, but unfortunately as we all know, road conditions have made it challenging a little bit. So, you know, look forward to meeting with SEIU West and CUPE and SGEU representatives, again, to understand and scope out where this task force could go. And again, so that we can get direct feedback from frontline healthcare workers.”
Host of issues in Oxbow, Yorkton
The emergency motion had followed a Question Period in which the NDP roasted the government on a host of health care issues impacting smaller communities in particular.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck had led off Question Period with questions about the lack of acute care being offered at Galloway Health Centre in Oxbow, in the wake of a news story that broke on the issue that day.
Patients were being directed to Estevan and elsewhere for acute care, even though there seemed enough staff resources to be able to provide that service in Oxbow.
“Their health care facility has the human resources needed to deliver care at home,” Beck said in the Assembly. “But Oxbow residents, the Mayor, and health care workers report that they have to transport patients to Estevan, Arcola, Regina, sometimes even Swift Current, and often by ambulance. Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a simple fix. Why won't the Premier listen to the local people of Oxbow and ensure they can get the care that they need at home?”
In response, Premier Moe indicated that the Minister of Rural and Remote Health Lori Carr “is reaching out and working directly with the community and with the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority to see how we can move forward in delivering care that is being requested by the practitioners and by the community members. “
In speaking to reporters afterwards, Minister Cockrill did not rule out the possibility of expanding health services in Oxbow because of the staffing available there.
“We will absolutely be working with the community of Oxbow to understand what their current services are. But I would just say that whenever we expand services, we want to make sure that that's sustainable into the future,” said Cockrill.
He said that “if there is an opportunity to have some predictability around staffing over the long run in that community, we'd look at expanding services.”
Also during Question Period, the NDP roasted the Sask Party over a lack of family doctors in Yorkton. It was noted that at least four family doctors had left Yorkton's Sunrise Health and Wellness Centre, and that local residents were being left without a primary health care provider as a result.
Minister Cockrill acknowledged the situation in Yorkton but reiterated the government’s commitment towards health care staffing.
“We have had a number of physicians leave Yorkton over the last few months. Again, when that does happen, you know, we work with the Saskatchewan Health Authority to understand why those physicians left. And that informs decisions on, you know, what recruitment tools we need to have in place, how we staff those individual physician rosters,” Cockrill said.
“I did mention in the House today we had a SIPA physician start in the Yorkton area just last month here. I know a couple of offers have gone out to family medicine residents for longer term solutions there as well. So, again, (I am) always happy to look at specifically the small cities and understand what are the tools that we need to be using to make sure we're fully staffed.”
Mowat made it known she wanted some answers regarding Yorkton and similar-sized smaller communities.
“So unfortunately there is not a great deal of transparency on where physicians have been leaving. Even today, you know, you see the government focusing on the one physician who came instead of at least five that have left that we know about,” said Mowat.
The NDP health critic was also concerned that the government was “making statements about being able to give everyone access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner with no plan for how that's going to happen, and completely ignoring all the people that have left that system.”
She pointed to family doctors leaving the profession, the government “dragging their feet” on changes to the compensation model, and not enough nurse practitioners getting hired, as well as people not getting access to health care.
“We know that that can have a very negative impact on people's lives, on their ability to attract people in Yorkton, which is a regional centre — a small city that provides services all around. We know that these issues need to be addressed and not swept under the rug.”
