PUTTING PATIENTS FIRST: IMPROVING ACCESS TO PHYSICIANS THROUGH NEW RECRUITMENT AGENCY

Health Minister Don McMorris today launched a provincial agency aimed at recruiting and retaining more physicians to rural and urban Saskatchewan.

Operational by spring 2010, the physician recruitment agency will act as a one-stop point of contact for physicians seeking to set up practice in Saskatchewan. It will also enhance and co-ordinate recruitment efforts across the province, working closely with health regions and communities to address their need for physicians.

"Retaining and attracting physicians as a means of ensuring timely access to quality health care is a top priority of this government," McMorris said. "We are working hard to solve our physician shortage - and putting patients first - by fulfilling our commitment to establish a physician recruitment agency."

The development of the recruitment agency is a key component of the physician recruitment strategy, announced earlier this year.

"We must break the cycle of developing Saskatchewan-trained doctors for other provinces and other countries," Saskatchewan Medical Association President Dr. George Miller said. "We must keep those we train, and we must repatriate those we have lost. The SMA applauds the agency announcement. What a wonderful time to undertake this - when we can offer doctors the chance to work in the province that is set to lead the nation in health care transformation and to be a part of it."

The agency will focus first on retaining our own medical graduates so the people of Saskatchewan benefit from the dollars spent training doctors in the province.

Over the next four years, the physician recruitment strategy commits to:

• reduce the annual turnover of physicians in Saskatchewan to less than 10 per cent;
• increase the number of University of Saskatchewan (U of S) medical students and residents who train outside Saskatoon by 25 per cent. 
• increase the number of U of S medical graduates establishing practices in Saskatchewan by 10 per cent; and
• increase the percentage of Canadian-trained doctors working in Saskatchewan by 10 per cent.

This new agency will assist in meeting these goals.

The agency will be led by a nine-member board composed of representatives from partnering groups, including the Saskatchewan Medical Association, health regions, the College of Medicine, the Professional Association of Interns and Residents of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, and the provincial government. A public representative will also participate.

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For more information, contact:

Karen Hill
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083
Email: khill@health.gov.sk.ca