By Katherine Svenkeson

Battlefords MLA speaks on unified health regions

Jan 4, 2017 | 4:00 PM

With the provincial government moving to unify its 12 health regions, local MLA Herb Cox weighed-in on the impact it might have on the Battlefords and other areas in the region.

“I think it’s just one more way we’re working on improving,” Cox said. “The bottom line is to improve health care for the patient’s experience so that’s what we’re trying to do — eliminate some duplication and enhancing some consistencies across the board.”

The Government of Saskatchewan announced Jan. 4 they are making steps to eliminate the separate health regions across the province, and consolidate them into one single Provincial Health Authority. According to a news release from the government, the change is working to consolidate administration, like IT and legal, without impacting the centralized services.

Cox said while the changes are being worked through, he believes the healthcare provided to smaller communities and rural areas won’t be affected.

“I think there’s going to be some safe guards built into the system, and a lot of this is still in the implementation planning of course,” he said. “But there’s going to be certainly some items in the implementation that’s going to take care of and ensure that local communities, and rural residents for sure, are going to have the same access to the quality of health care that we deserve here in Saskatchewan.”

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While the government said jobs on the frontlines won’t be affected, Cox couldn’t say for sure how many jobs will be lost or from what areas of health care and “we’ll have to wait and see when all the planning is put into motion.”

“Some of the job functions may just be changed and there may be some reclassifications of jobs, but at this point in time I think it’s too early to say any number of jobs that will or will not be lost,” he said.

The move to a single health authority comes from the Advisory Panel on Health System Structure, which was formed in August 2016.

Katherine Svenkeson is a reporter for battlefordsNOW.com. She can be reached at katherine.svenkeson@jpbg.ca or @ksvenkeson on twitter.