A re-elected Saskatchewan Party will look for ways to innovate and improve on our strong health care record by:

• Reducing administrative positions and costs in Regional Health Authorities by $7.5 million, with savings allocated towards front line care in long-term care facilities.

• Provide $500,000 in annual funding to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to integrate vision loss rehabilitation services into the mainstream health system

• Reduce CT scan wait lists by providing patients with the option to pay privately for CT scans using the “two-for-one” model recently introduced for MRI scans, under which for every scan paid for privately, the clinic must provide one scan at no charge to a patient on the public list; and

• Provide an additional $500,000 annually to expand the remote presence technology pilot project underway in Pelican Narrows to other communities.  This initiative uses advanced robotic telemedicine to connect with a patient remotely and provide real-time assessments, diagnosis and patient management.

We will also help those caring for a family member in the final stages of life by extending palliative care leave from eight weeks to 26 weeks.

Because of new ideas and a new approach, things have changed.  

Here are a few examples of the work we have done in the past 8 years:

• We've built or are building new hospitals, like the Moose Jaw hospital, Sask Hospital North Battleford and the first ever Children’s Hospital
• We’re adding 15 new long-term care facilities
• Our surgical wait times are now the shortest in Canada
• We've hired 650 new doctors and 3,000 new nurses

There’s more work to do but progress is being made.