Janell Hubbard, general vice president of CUPE 5430, told reporters in Regina on Sept. 23, 2024 that she would not tell young people to get into health care in the province because of the working conditions. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

By CJME

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Saskatchewan health-care workers continue to sound the alarm as they say the system in the province is in complete “crisis”.

Janell Hubbard, general vice president of CUPE 5430, said health-care workers are feeling exhausted, burned out and disrespected due to understaffing.

“I’m not telling my nephews and nieces to pursue health care in this province, and that’s more because of the working conditions than other things,” Hubbard said at a media event on Monday where Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck announced a $1.1 billion plan to invest in front line health services if elected.

Hubbard said she wanted to see predictable and regular staffing in health care, even ranking that above higher wages.

“Although I think our wages aren’t also competitive, but the idea that you would start out casual or part time and just be at the employer’s beck and call, and the stress and the workload when you are actually working the floor — I’m not encouraging young people in my circle to go into health care,” Hubbard said.

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NDP Leader Carla Beck said an NDP government would phase out the use of contract nurses and out-of-province travel for care in the platform annnouncement on Sept. 23, 2024 in Regina. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

Beck also promised to implement the long-requested nurse task force, and vowed to phase out measures like the use of contract nurses and flying people out of the province for surgeries and treatment.

“A Saskatchewan NDP government would not ignore the voices from the front line,” Beck said.

“We would work with those on the front lines, and listen to the solutions that they have and start rebuilding a health-care system that right now is in crisis.”

Beck explained that the $1.1 billion will take place over four years and involve a reallocation of funds from services like the controversial Administrative Information Management System (AIMS) software program.

Beck said these initiatives would not come with an increase in taxes.

Hubbard criticized the AIMS program for causing people to miss their payments and difficulties in ordering supplies.

Saskatchewan Health minister Everett Hindley said it was important to have a program that can be implemented province-wide, though he said the province takes concerns about missed payments seriously.

“I understand from the SHA that it’s been a very small number of employees that have been impacted, but that being said, if there’s a single employee in the health care system in the province that hasn’t been paid, that’s a concern. That’s a problem for us,” he said.

In July, the SHA said the error rate of the 48,000 payslips sent out in each pay period was less than one per cent in both its first and second runs.

Hubbard said the NDP shares the union’s priorities on keeping health care a public rather than private service, saying she suspects the Sask. Party feels differently.

“We’ve seen the use of contract workers. We’ve seen people leaving the province for surgeries. We’ve seen them come to us with some contracting out scenarios that we’ve had to fight off,” Hubbard said. “We want to see healthcare stay public to provide the services people need.”

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