MOOSE JAW — The provincial government and Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) are adding 77 “new and enhanced” permanent full-time positions to support 30 rural and remote communities, with seven positions dedicated to Moose Jaw.
All seven positions will be at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital.
According to the SHA, four permanent part-time registered nurse (RN) positions will be converted to permanent full-time, one temporary part-time RN position will be made full-time and two permanent part-time medical radiation technologists will be made permanent full-time.
The government says it expects these 77 health-care positions to help improve emergency and acute care services, reduce service disruptions and continue building “a more stable health workforce.”
The positions range from RNs, registered psychiatric nurses, licensed practical nurses (LPNs), combined lab and X-ray technicians, medical radiation technologists and phlebotomists, according to the government.
Furthermore, the province expects these new or enhanced positions to cost $6.2 million, with that money coming from annual savings from the SHA’s recent restructuring of out-of-scope administrative leadership positions; the restructuring will save $10.4 million annually after the organization eliminated 26 senior positions.
The SHA has already directed $4.2 million of these savings toward creating 27 new and 20 enhanced clinical manager positions in 45 rural and northern communities, with the positions designed to strengthen on-site leadership and improve oversight of care delivery.
Many positions will be eligible for the Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive (RRRI), which provides up to $50,000 over three years, as part of a return in service agreement, the province says. Since its launch in 2022, the incentive has supported the hiring of more than 400 health professionals in roughly 70 communities. This has reduced vacancies, improved staffing levels and led to better service stability.
The Hon. Jeremy Cockrill, minister of health, the Hon. Lori Carr, minister of rural and remote health, and Derek Miller, COO of the SHA, announced the development of these positions at the Wigmore Hospital on July 23.
Cockrill said the SHA posted the 77 positions this week, with the spots targeting communities experiencing service disruptions. Furthermore, he said some positions are newly created, while “the bulk” are enhanced, with most changing from permanent part-time to permanent full-time.
Continuing, he said he was unsure how long it would take the SHA to fill those positions. He pointed out that not every health-care employee is looking for full-time work; some people, especially parents, may want casual work.
“If some are part-time, I hope they would apply,” he remarked.
Cockrill said there are many opportunities in the health-care field in Saskatchewan, but people need to be interested in that industry. He added that emergency medicine is also a difficult subfield in which to recruit and retain people, especially in the summer.
Carr said this initiative is the latest step in the government’s plan to strengthen rural and northern health-care teams so they can support rural residents.
Continuing, she said these efforts include the RRRI program, which has added hundreds of new and enhanced positions in over 70 communities, and the implementation of a virtual physician program and expansion of a point-of-care lab testing program.
These initiatives reduced service disruption days in rural and remote communities by 28 per cent between June 2024 and June 2025, she added. Also, the virtual physician coverage and point-of-care lab testing have helped prevent more than 2,700 service disruptions.
MooseJawToday.com will feature comments from the Saskatchewan NDP in a separate article.
