Beck commits to increasing surgery capacity, reducing wait times for Saskatchewan people
For immediate release: September 27, 2024
Beck commits to increasing surgery capacity, reducing wait times for Saskatchewan people
Saskatchewan remains last place in Canada for key procedures while Moe cuts sweetheart deals with Calgary clinics
REGINA – Today, Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck committed to getting Saskatchewan healthcare out of last place by ramping up surgeries and diagnostic scans and lowering wait times for patients.
“Women are waiting months and months in anxiety for mammograms and other cancer tests. Our parents and grandparents are waiting in pain, twice as long as other provinces, for critical surgeries like knee or hip replacements,” Beck said.
“The longer the Sask. Party is in power, the longer our friends and family will wait for the care they desperately need.
Beck was joined by Kayla Deics and her partner Logan Seidlik. Kayla was recently diagnosed with stage three breast cancer at age thirty five. Both Kayla and Logan’s experience reflect the challenges many cancer patients face in Saskatchewan’s broken healthcare system, as they’ve been forced to fight and travel out of province to Calgary to receive care. Had they not travelled out of province – at their own expense – to receive a biopsy, Kayla would still be waiting for test results confirming her diagnosis. The earliest appointment she was offered in Saskatchewan was February 2025.
“In every single appointment a healthcare provider has told us about the strains of the system. Administrators, doctors, nurses and surgeons have all told us that we need to “talk to our MLA” about the problems we are facing. This is not the sort of fight that a patient should need to be worried about while they are battling a disease like cancer,” Seidlik said. “When this is all said and done, Kayla won’t be calling herself a breast cancer survivor. She will be calling herself a Saskatchewan healthcare survivor.”
The Saskatchewan NDP would perform more surgeries in the public system by staffing up surgical rooms and increasing hours of operation. Diagnostic scans - and the healthcare workers who perform them - would increase across the board, including MRIs, mammograms, and CT scans.
By comparison, the Moe government will continue to send patients and tax dollars out of province. Instead of staffing up here at home, Scott Moe is paying private out-of-province clinics. These clinics are Sask Party donors and charge 10 times the normal cost for critical testing and life-saving procedures.
Saskatchewan people continue to face the longest average wait times in Canada for key procedures, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Beck said her plan would get Saskatchewan out of last place and phase out the Sask. Party’s sweetheart deals with Calgary clinics, re-investing that money in public healthcare at home instead.
“Saskatchewan is the birthplace of Medicare. Our families and friends shouldn't have to fly to Calgary just to get a basic surgery or scans done,” Beck said.
Beck’s plan for more scans and more surgeries is part of the Saskatchewan NDP’s pledge to invest an additional $1.1 billion in new healthcare funding over the next four years to make sure healthcare staff are supported and people have access to the care they need.
The Saskatchewan NDP has committed to releasing a fully-costed platform that balances the budget in the first term.
“At the end of the day, we don’t have a money problem, we have a management problem,” said Beck. “The Sask Party is lining the pockets of their friends in Alberta while our patients, our hospitals, and the hardworking people in them go without the support they deserve.”
