Sask. adding 77 permanent positions to rural hospitals

WATCH: As Wayne Mantyka tells us, help is on the way for those working in rural hospitals across Saskatchewan.

The province says help is on the way for rural hospitals across Saskatchewan, with 77 full-time positions being created across 30 communities.

The province hopes it will help stabilize the provision of emergency and other services.

“I am pleased that we have the chance to celebrate the ongoing efforts to reduce service disruptions in rural and northern communities and today I am very pleased to announce 77 new and enhanced permanent full-time positions to 30 different rural and northern communities,” Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said on Wednesday.

Most of the 77 positions are currently being filled by part-time and temporary staff, but it’s difficult to retain workers without offering full-time job stability.

“Adding more full-time roles will help attract more professionals, support existing employees by providing better staffing coverage, improve team cohesiveness and provide a safer work environment for workers and providers,” Cockrill said.

Cockrill made the announcement in Moose Jaw, where seven permanent nursing jobs will be added. Other rural communities like Kipling, southeast of Regina, will gain two permanent nursing positions.

• Staffing shortages forcing rural Sask. hospitals to reduce ER hours

The Opposition NDP is questioning how the positions will be filled.

“You know as of this morning according to publicly available data, we have 1,647 vacant health care positions in the province and so why should people believe that [with] these 77 the Sask. Party will be able to fill whereas the previous 1,647 they could not,” NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson said.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority does not know how long it will take to fill the 77 permanent positions but with any of the spots already filled by parttime and temporary workers, convincing them to go full-time could make the job easier.