powered by:
valneva canada inc.
mandryk: doctor's departure shows why health care is still moe's achilles heel
'the issues facing health care in saskatchewan are the same as those afflicting systems across the country.' — the angus reid institute.
aug 26 2024
3 minute read
dr. isabelle richard's reason for leaving saskatchewan underscores a very specific political problem for premier scott moe.
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
a recent opinion piece by dr. isabelle richard has resonated with a lot of saskatchewan people.
it’s questionable, however, whether it’s resonating with premier scott moe and his saskatchewan party government — a potential problem five weeks before the start of the general election campaign.
admittedly, it doesn’t seem as if the sask. party has all that many problems going into the oct. 28 vote.
while a recent angus reid institute poll confirms insightrix polling that shows the sask. party is losing a lot of votes in the cities, it suggested the governing party has an even more favourable seven percentage point provincewide lead over the ndp — 49 per cent to 42 per cent.
the angus reid survey further confirms the ndp’s struggle outside of regina and saskatoon. while moe’s own approval has worsened everywhere, three out of five voters view ndp leader carla beck in a negative light and opinions of her are worsening in the country.
meanwhile, 62 per cent of sask. party voters say they are “absolutely certain” they will stick with the party; only 48 per cent of ndp voters were as certain.
however, the polling also shows there may be a couple issues still capable of moving voters.
one is cost of living, with 66 per cent of voters believing this government is doing a “poor” or “very poor” job.
advertisement
advertisement
that said, the commitment of sask. party voters leads one to believe moe’s dogged determination to blame the problem on the “trudeau carbon tax” has worked. three out of five want the carbon tax gone and a surprising 38 per cent, provincewide, say the sask. party government should go even further in its fight with ottawa.
but the other issue is health care — clearly a provincial issue; 67 per cent of those surveyed by angus reid say the government has performed negatively, including a whopping 40 per cent who rate sask. party health-care management as “very poor.”
“the issues facing health care in saskatchewan are the same as those afflicting systems across the country,” angus reid wrote of the top issue in the province.
“a struggle in finding enough family doctors, staffing issues in general, service closures and disruptions in rural areas, and long wait-lists for surgeries — which remain high, despite government efforts to trim the waits with out-of-province surgeries.”
it’s here where richard’s letter comes in:
“saskatchewan, your health-care system is in trouble,” wrote the 32-year-old doctor and mcgill university graduate, who has family in this province and seriously entertained the possibility of setting up practice here.
advertisement
advertisement
but the saskatchewan family doctors‘ pay schedule is not competitive with b.c. now paying for time, and with quebec’s system affording doctors “access to a group of other professionals, such as a physiotherapist, dietitian, social worker, pharmacist, psychologist, registered nurse and nurse practitioners.”
richard further described saskatchewan’s system as a “mess” where family doctors virtually pick referrals to an inadequate number of specialists “l ike i would pick a name from a hat, without a clue of whose list is longest and who does what.”
meanwhile, the pay structure here forces general practitioners to see as many patients as possible, as quickly as they can — which richard says isn’t satisfying to doctors and the polling says isn’t satisfying to voters.
her letter was published shortly before the ndp opposition provided a leaked letter penned to saskatchewan health authority physicians that said doctors weren’t being paid on time under the new it system aims.
it’s another in a myriad of health-care problems that are seemingly painfully obvious to both doctors and patients.
yet when recently asked about richard’s letter and other health issues on the evan bray show , moe said his government is working on the problems in health care that are similar everywhere in the country.
advertisement
advertisement
one doubts that health care will be the downfall of his government, given its solid base of support.
but underestimating health-care frustrations that resonate with so many seems inadvisable.
mandryk is the political columnist for the regina leader-post and the saskatoon starphoenix.
our websites are your destination for up-to-the-minute saskatchewan news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and leaderpost.com. for regina leader-post newsletters click here; for saskatoon starphoenix newsletters click here
share story
