Member Statement (15 November 2023)

From Hansard (15 November 2023)

 

Supports for Nurse Practitioners

Mr. Jenson: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to rise today to recognize Nurse Practitioner Week, November 12th to 18th. Mr. Speaker, the number of nurse practitioners practising in Saskatchewan has increased by over 236 per cent since 2007. This week we celebrate more than 300 nurse practitioners providing high-quality primary, acute, and specialty health services across the province.

Through Saskatchewan’s health human resources action plan, we are working to support nurse practitioners in the province by expanding their scope of practice, allowing them to admit and discharge to hospitals and provide comprehensive care to patients in long-term care; offering nurse practitioner students the final clinical placement bursary to assist with their last year of schooling; offering loan forgiveness for nurse practitioners that choose to work in smaller communities, which was just expanded to an additional five communities, as noted in the Throne Speech; offering up to $40,000 in relocation granting for nurse practitioners entering a small community; offering up to $50,000 to recruit nurse practitioners to a rural location.

Since 2007, Mr. Speaker, we’ve increased nurse practitioner program seats by 50 per cent. These investments are paying off, because this year’s fall of 2023 convocation was the largest class of USask [University of Saskatchewan] nurse practitioner graduates from Saskatchewan, the second-largest class of nurse practitioner graduates to date, as well as the largest number of self-declared Indigenous nurse practitioner grads in college history. Please join me in expressing appreciation to all nurse practitioners working here in Saskatchewan.

---

Back to 2023/2024 Session