Long waits for breast health in Sask. one year after plan announced

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REGINA — Nearly a year into the Saskatchewan government’s plan to improve breast health care, the province’s largest health care union says staffing shortages and long waits have not let up.

Bashir Jalloh, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 5430 in Regina, says diagnostic technicians have been overworked and unable to provide timely care.

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“We feel guilty telling patients to go back, but there’s nothing you can do because the system is so overloaded,” he said. “Even the ministry’s (wait-time) target that they are talking about is not being met.”

Last March, the Saskatchewan Party government announced its plan to streamline breast cancer care after backlogs grew larger. It includes spending $3.6 million on a new breast health centre in the province’s capital. It is to open this spring.

The government has been sending patients to private clinics in Calgary to reduce wait times. Earlier this month, the contract for out-of-province care was extended for another year — a move the government says is temporary.

Jalloh said the government is paying more to send patients to Calgary rather than have those services offered in Saskatchewan. The province covers travel expenses up to $1,500 per patient.

“We want to increase capacity of health-care workers in Saskatchewan, not sending them to other provinces when we can do it here,” he said.

Jalloh said the province also needs to make sure the breast health centre is fully staffed.

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“You can build all these places, but if you are not committed to providing the staff and retaining them, it’s just an empty building,” he said.

Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill was not available for an interview. His ministry said in a statement it’s working to hire more staff, including highly skilled radiologists, to ensure breast cancer patients have timely access to treatment.

It also said it’s looking to add more biopsy and diagnostic procedures in Saskatoon and Moose Jaw.

“The Saskatchewan Health Authority has increased the fees paid to breast radiologists to support recruitment and retention efforts in the province,” the ministry said, adding the province has spent $300 million on an action plan to improve the health-care system.

As of mid-January, the ministry said about 472 patients had diagnostic procedures in Calgary. That program has brought wait times down to a clinically recommended target of three weeks or less, it added.

Opposition NDP health critic Vicki Mowat said she hopes the new Regina centre reduces wait times and that the province takes a hard look at how it can prevent staff from leaving the profession or moving to other provinces.

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“We need to make sure that the time for diagnoses and treatment decreases so that women can get access to breast cancer care where and when they need it, and are not travelling out of province for that care,” Mowat said.

“(Contracting an out-of-province provider) raises questions about how much this is costing taxpayers, how lucrative these contracts are and what the dollar figure is per scan.

“It also raises questions about the taxpayer trusting the government to wisely use its dollars, when we could be funding those positions in province.”

Nadine Baker waited nearly a year in Regina before receiving a diagnostic mammogram. The results were negative for cancer, but she’s been put on the province’s regular screening program.

“My message to women in Saskatchewan is, if you’re not afraid, you should be, you really should be,” she said.

“Because they’re not taking women’s health care very seriously.”

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