Where SPA Stands

The Saskatchewan Physiotherapy Association is committed to working with provincial policy makers, governments, regional health authorities and other health professions to meet these goals and ensure that Saskatchewan residents have better access to health services, including primary health care as well as hospital and emergency care.  Through active participation on national and provincial initiatives and partnerships with other health organizations and physiotherapy stakeholders, the Saskatchewan Physiotherapy Association strives to promote effective health human resource planning and innovative primary health models of service delivery to ensure that all residents of Saskatchewan have appropriate access to needed health services, including physiotherapy, at the right time from the most appropriate provider.

Access to Physiotherapy
Increasingly Canadians are paying for physiotherapy services out of pocket or through private insurance to access the care they require. Those without the means to pay, including, for example, seniors, workers with no insurance, or Canadians with chronic illnesses, often have wait times in excess of 8 weeks or more for publicly-funded physiotherapy or go without essential treatment. This has the potential to create a greater burden to the health care system further along the continuum of care, or may lead to increased dependence on pharmaceutical interventions which may not necessarily address the individual's primary needs.

Early access to physiotherapy plays an important role in chronic disease prevention and control, keeping Canadians active and independent at work or returning to work and out of hospitals and long-term care facilities.  Physiotherapy plays an essential role in maintaining and improving the mobility and health of Canadians and in this way contributes to their quality of life.1,2  Access to appropriate services is a priority for Saskatchewan Physiotherapy Association.

Funding of Health Care Services
It has been shown that early physiotherapy intervention plays an important role in chronic disease prevention and control, and reduces the need for referrals to specialists or more costly invasive interventions. SPA is committed to a sustainable public health care system but recognizes that when timely and reliable access is not available, a mix of public and private funding may be required to ensure that Canadians have choice and flexibility in the selection of and payment for physiotherapy services.
 
Wait Times
Much attention has been given to the five priority areas identified by the Canadian Wait Time Alliance (cardiac surgery, total joint replacement, cancer treatment, diagnostic imaging and sight restoration). Establishing wait times for these five priority areas is important but should not occur at the expense of other acute and chronic conditions. Addressing wait times for joint replacements, for example, by increasing the volume of surgeries without adding to essential rehabilitation services such as physiotherapy in the hospitals and the community will not achieve intended goals.

There is an immediate need to develop innovative means to address wait times within current resources. Investment in health promotion, disease prevention and management of chronic disease, along with interprofessional team models and community public health programs will improve health outcomes and reduce reliance on the acute care system. Physiotherapists can play an essential role within all these areas.

Recruitment and Retention
The Saskatchewan Physiotherapy Association supports an active approach to the recruitment and retention of healthcare practitioners in Saskatchewan.

Although the Government of Saskatchewan has developed recruitment and retention strategies over the past few years, there remain challenges in recruiting and retaining physiotherapists and other healthcare practitioners into rural and remote regions of the province. We feel that access to physiotherapy and other services has reached a critical point in these areas. There are significant gaps in services available to the people of Saskatchewan, causing many in rural and remote areas to go without essential treatment. Access to physiotherapy plays an important role in chronic disease prevention and control, keeping Canadians active and independent at work or returning to work and out of hospitals and long-term care facilities.

We support government initiatives and resources aimed at recruiting and retaining physiotherapists and other healthcare practitioners into Saskatchewan and encourage government to continue devoting resources and looking at creative ways of resolving our healthcare practitioner shortages.

Health Human Resource Planning
The overall goal of Health Human Resource planning is to have “the right service, provided at the right time, in the right place and by the right health professional.”

The Saskatchewan Physiotherapy Association is committed to an integrated, interprofessional approach to HHR planning that:

• Is based on population needs
• Utilizes the full extent of the physiotherapist’s scope of practice in health promotion, disease prevention, condition assessment, treatment and management
• Utilizes health providers effectively and efficiently
• Ensures maximum access for Canadians to required health services.

SPA promotes a Pan-Canadian approach to physiotherapy health human resource planning within a broader interprofessional Health Human Resource planning framework.