The Primary Health Services Branch serves to develop the policy framework for Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) to plan and organize primary health care service delivery. The vision for primary health care in Saskatchewan is that primary health care is sustainable, offers a superior experience, and results in an exceptionally healthy Saskatchewan population.

Saskatchewan's new framework for primary health care, Patient-Centred, Community Designed, Team Delivered, lays the foundation for a system that will address rural and remote health service delivery, First Nations healthcare delivery, as well as chronic disease prevention and management through focusing on patient- and family-centred care, interdisciplinary team-based care, and community engagement.

The aims of the framework are

• Improved Access, whereby everyone in Saskatchewan - regardless of location, ethnicity, or ‘underserved' status - has an identifiable primary health care team that they can access in a convenient and timely fashion.
• Superior Patient and Family Experience - a model of patient and family centered care is implemented to achieve the best possible experience for patients and families.
• A Healthy Population - the primary health care system contributes to achieving an exceptionally healthy population with individuals supported and empowered to take responsibility for their own good health. 
• A Reliable, Predictable, and Sustainable system is created in which services and service providers are stabilized, and costs are predictable and sustainable.

Primary Health Services Branch will work with RHAs to facilitate and support the aims of the framework, including working to stabilize and make progress in primary health care, including:

• Patient and family centred care
• Community engagement
• Physician engagement and leadership
• Supporting a ‘step to the right' by physicians
• True collaborative practice and team work
• Continuous Improvement & Measurement
• Connecting with the First Nations system
• Shared ownership and leadership
• An integrated, whole system approach: partnerships and relationships with physicians, First Nations, RHAs, other providers, community organizations / agencies.

Primary health care is the day-to-day care needed to protect, maintain or restore our health. For most people, it is both their first point of contact with the health care system and their most frequently used health service. Visiting a family physician, discussing a prescription with a pharmacist, or speaking with a registered nurse via HealthLine are all examples of how Saskatchewan residents access primary health care every day. In fact, these types of exchanges account for about 80 per cent of all interactions in our health care system, making the delivery of effective primary health care services critical to the success of our entire health care system.

Milestones in primary health care in Saskatchewan to date are:

• created HealthLine, a 24-hour telephone health advice line;
• established HealthLine Online, a web-based health information service;
• established Directors of Primary Health Care and Team Facilitators in each Regional Health Authority;
• created bylaws for the Registered Nurse (Nurse Practitioner) (RN(NP)) that have been signed and allow the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses' Association to license RN(NP)s;
• offered 137 bursaries in total for the RN(NP) program during the period 2002-2011;
• completed a pilot project on team development;
• supported implementation and delivery of a chronic disease self-management program "Live Well with a Chronic Condition";
• introduced publicly funded midwifery services in Saskatchewan;
• in collaboration with HISC, the Ministry has implemented the PHC IT Solution (Electronic Medical Record) in 25 PHC teams;
• provided funding to support the integration of pharmacists into primary health care teams.
• conducted a patient experience survey with PHC teams for the purpose of quality improvement; and
• initiated the introduction of the Triple Aim learning approach in the province with an initial focus on developing a Triple Aim prototype for Chronic Disease Management.
  

Contact Information
Primary Health Services Branch
Saskatchewan Ministry of Health
3475 Albert Street, Regina  S4S 6X6
(306) 787-0889