By Spencer Sterritt

Behind Saskatchewan’s plan to amalgamate health regions

Jan 8, 2017 | 9:13 AM

Creating the report which recommended Saskatchewan amalgamate to one health region wasn’t a task taken lightly.

Brenda Abrametz from the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region was one member of a three person panel tasked with finding possible futures for health care in the province.

She said it warmed their hearts to see how dedicated health care professionals across the province were.

“What struck us the most was the passion health leaders showed,” she said. “Their commitment is to the best interest of the patients and everyone recognized there might be a need for a change.”

Throughout the consultation process, numerous health officials and organizations were consulted.

Learn the signs

How often should you change your brakes?

1h ago

Missing pet

'She means the world to our family': Woman seeks help in finding missing pet parrot

23h ago

BE CAREFUL ON THE ROADS

Semi flips outside P.A.; one of dozens of incidents on Sask. roads due to winter weather

23h ago

Critics of the amalgamation plan, such as Sask. NDP health critic Danielle Chartier, have said not enough consultation was done with the public to hear what Saskatchewan communities want from their health care systems.

In response, Abrametz said they mostly talked to health care stakeholders and organizations, not communities directly, though they did receive roughly 300 replies from the public through an online submission process.

She couldn’t speculate on how many people in total they talked to in total about possible amalgamation.

Out of all the recommendations in the report filed with the province, Abrametz said their number one priority was making sure the transition down from 12 health regions went smoothly.

“We would like to move on this as quickly as possible, but having said that, we want it done right,” she said, advocating for a well-structured implementation plan.

“(We) care deeply about the health care system in Saskatchewan. We went into this because of that. When we initially met, we realized our report had to focus on patients and families and how they’re served.”

The province has set a target date of the end of 2017 for the amalgamation transition.

ssterritt@panow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit