Health Care Issues in the Leaders' Debate

A good portion of the recent Leaders' debate was centered around the topic of health care, with both Lorne Calvert and Brad Wall giving mention to it in their opening remarks. Here is a rundown of the Leader's responses to the two questions specifically about health care.

Health Care Question #1:
Recently a friend lost his father because the waiting list was too long; what is going to be done about this?

Calvert:
While everyone else has been complaining, we have been taking action.
We have setup a surgical wait care network in Saskatchewan that is now being copied across Canada.
There are more doctors currently practicing.
We have decreased wait times significantly.
We have a plan for publicly funded/administered surgi-centers to provide 30 000 more surgeries.
Not just on acute care that we need to focus, providing prescription care to whole population; a universal prescription drug plan will improve wait times.

Wall:
With respect, the answer is not new facilities.
We have a nursing/doctor shortage; that’s why we began in September creating a plan for more nurses and more training seats for doctors.
Similar to Manitoba, we would like to increase doctor training seats to 100.
We need more residency positions in Saskatchewan hospitals so there is a better chance of keeping doctors here.
Our plan is about the front line, that’s what needs to be dealt with.
Unaffordable prescription care for everyone will take hundreds of millions away from recruiting nurses/doctors and dealing with wait times.

Karwacki:
While knocking on doors in my constituency, I came across a mother with a 15 year old son who had to wait until he was 17 to get his knee fixed.
We have a made in Sask nursing shortage plan to make sure we have enough nurses.
We will retain specialists in the province to make sure these waits don’t occur anymore.
We have a plan for 2 not-for-profit surgical centers.
We will take orthopedic surgery out of hospitals, and place it into these surgical centers to ensure there are no waiting lists in this province anymore.

Open debate:
Calvert:
Not a question of either or, we need to concentrate on acute care services, but families need help with prescriptions as a way to keep them out of the hospital.
Drug plan will take up only 4% of health care spending.

Karwacki:
Calvert record is worst in country on waiting lists.
I am concerned that Mr. Wall does not have a plan.
The Liberal plan is to build on the Phike commission and Romanow report to ensure we deal with waiting lists with not-for profit surgical centers.

Wall:
We have a targeted affordable prescription care plan for seniors and kids under 14.
Only the Sask Party has expressed a need to expand the formulary.

Calvert:
Tonight there are 3500 drugs covered on the Sask formulary.
Are you saying in this time of prosperity people do not deserve a universal drug plan?
Are you saying we can’t again lead Canada in Medicare?

Wall:
In this time of prosperity, people have hospitals closed so they have to book emergencies from 8-5 Monday to Friday… that is a priority… wait times are a priority.



Health question #2:
What is your Plan to bring health care spending under control?

Karwacki:
If we do not deal with health care spending in this province, in a decade health care will take up every dollar that we have in Saskatchewan.
By 2017 politicians will have no other decisions to make.
The way Calvert has been spending money, there will be nothing else politicians can do.
We have put forward a health/social policy council that will help bring health care spending under control, to give us best practices, and ensure we do the right things in health care.
We have plan for waiting lists, nurses, a plan that will make a difference and get health spending under control.

Wall:
We will establish a patient first review of the entire health care system if elected.
If there is an item in the budget that accounts for nearly half of the provincial budget, and grows at 8-9% per year, yet waiting list are not getting shorter…
It’s time to ask are those dollars getting to the front line, are they being maximized in terms of patient care, or are dollars being lost to various levels of administration?
This is a question that no one has had the courage to ask.
We need to make sure that resources, precious health care dollars are getting to the front line to deal with wait times.

Calvert:
When Sask/Liberal party talk about sustainability of health care, soon the debate will come to private, for-profit health care, because that is where they always go.
The health care system in Canada is much more sustainable than any private system in the world.
In dealing with growing costs, when we talk about prescription medicine, preventative medicine, education, community based services... that is when we will make the system very sustainable in a publicly funded way.

Open debate:
Karwacki:
It is clear that Mr. Calvert needs a $15 prescription for truth serum, because he is not being straight forward with people.
The province needs to go in a different direction than Calvert is proposing.
The rest of the world is trying to get people healthier, to take fewer prescription drugs, to make sure we practice preventative health care, to make sure we have an education system that gives young people the chance to find their passion and get involved, that we have nurses, pediatricians, and social workers at school to deal with children that are struggling, that need a difference made in their lives.

Wall:
David you can’t take nurses out of hospitals and put them in schools, we have a nursing shortage. Medical personnel are needed on the front line.

Calvert:
Sustainability of health care means keeping people healthy so they don’t need to get to the acute care system.
This means community-based services, and working in our neighborhoods to create that circumstance where people are healthy.

Wall:
Problem is that people wait too long, can’t get to the health care system that they need.
We currently have the longest wait times in the country.
The system – when it is readily available – works for people. The problem is that the system is not accessible, not readily available.

Calvert:
The time that you two have been complaining, we have been acting; waiting times are shorter today.

Karwacki:
They are the longest in the country.

Calvert:
According to the Fraser Institute, your right-wing friends who believe in private for-profit health care.

Karwacki:
We will make sure that nurses in hospitals are fully staffed before we move them into schools.
This is a great opportunity to make sure we retain nurses in the province, nurses getting close to retirement that want a different work environment.

Calvert:
Are you aware Mr. Karwacki that 90% of graduating nurses in Saskatchewan are staying in Saskatchewan, practicing in Saskatchewan, building careers in Saskatchewan?

Wall:
SUN has said we are short 1000 nurses. No one here believes there are any quick answers to that. It is a problem a long time in the making as a result of Mr. Calvert’s neglect of the issue.