A new report on the state of health care services in northern Saskatchewan should be in the hands of Health Minister Dustin Duncan later this week.
The study is written by Dr. Dennis Kendel of Saskatoon who visited Ile-a-la Crosse, Buffalo Narrows, La Loche and La Ronge last month.
Kendel says the government will decide what to do with his report but there could be changes.
“There are some changes on the way at the University of Saskatchewan which may impact on whether the university continues to hold the contract on the Northern Medical Services or not so that’s one of the changes that might come about,” he says.
Kendel adds there could also be changes in the way access to specialist services in the province’s north are handled.
“One of the challenges or opportunities will be in more instances probably, to use Telemedicine to actually make those services more available to people in the north on a more frequent basis without necessarily having the cost of the specialist traveling all of the time,” he says.
Kendel says there is room for improvement but generally the current method of health care delivery in northern Saskatchewan is working quite well.