Yesterday, Moe and Minister Jeremy Cockrill struggled to answer who they had actually consulted and what parts of their supposed plan were actually new initiatives.
“This supposed plan is the furthest thing from big, bold change,” said Meara Conway, Health Shadow Minister. “It's more of the same from the same old Sask. Party.
“If they actually took the time to listen to frontline healthcare workers, they wouldn't be re-announcing watered down commitments that are a decade and half old. This is what you get from a tired 20-year-old government that is out of ideas and out of steam.
“Healthcare workers and patients across this province deserve so much better. They deserve a real plan.”
The Sask. Party previously announced ‘Patient First’ healthcare plans in 2009, 2012, and 2015 with similar key goals and targets, such as primary care coverage for everyone.
The “new” plan lists 11 infrastructure projects all of which had been previously announced, some of them a decade ago in the case of the Yorkton Hospital.
The plan to improve public safety, consists of the review Cockrill started in January, and a series of RFPs issued weeks and months before with no new commitments to protect work ERs and patients.
"There is nothing in this plan that invests in front-line workers who keep the system running everyday,” said Olivia Bolton, Frontline Healthcare Worker. "Over my 15 year career I've only seen a $3/hour pay increase, and we are going on 4 years without a contract."
The Moe government’s latest plan walks back key goals set out in previous health plans, including surgeries with 30 days and diagnostic services within a week. Now the Moe government has set a goal of surgery and diagnostics within 60 days for 90 per cent of patients.
At last count, over 17,000 Saskatchewan people were waiting longer than three months for surgery according to government figures and women continue to be sent to Alberta for breast cancer diagnostics.
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