The province says it has signed 26 more nurse practitioners to provide publicly funded primary care across Saskatchewan, but says more work is needed to improve access. Erin Boyce is among those who recently signed contracts with the Ministry of Health. She will join the Martensville Collective Health and Wellness Clinic and is expected to care for at least 800 patients. “As nurse practitioners, we can help alleviate the stress on the system by enhancing accessibility,” Boyce told reporters Thursday. The Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Contract Program launched last year. Toni Giraudier, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Nurse Practitioners, says interest has been strong. “We knew that there was a need. We were interested ourselves, but I don’t think we fully knew that it was going to take off and have this amount of interest,” Giraudier said. Earlier this year, the province removed the cap on the number of contracts the Ministry of Health can offer nurse practitioners. Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill says the program is helping expand access to primary care, but more work remains. “As long as we have unattached patients in the province, it’s not enough, right? And so, while we still have unattached patients in Warman and Martensville and other communities, it means we need to add more practitioners,” Cockrill said. NDP MLA and labour critic Nathaniel Teed says while more nurse practitioners are welcome, the province is still facing a recruitment and retention crisis. He says reaching a new collective bargaining agreement with health workers would help. “We know that the system is bleeding out. We need to solve the crisis. That means signing a deal with health care workers as soon as possible and it means addressing all the reasons why health care workers are fleeing to other provinces,” Teed told reporters Thursday. Earlier this week, the province highlighted thousands of health-care hires, but Cockrill says it doesn’t track exactly how many workers have left the system. However, he says recruitment efforts continue, with the third intake for Primary Care Nurse Practitioner contracts open until Aug. 23.
