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By Ben Tompkins

Rural and Remote

Northern communities to soon benefit from 27 nurse practitioner positions

Jun 10, 2024 | 5:09 PM

The Government of Saskatchewan has increased its previous commitment of 25 new Nurse Practitioner (NP) positions to 27.

The permanent positions will be in rural and remote areas, with applications still being accepted until the end of the day.

According to Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) Vice-President for Integrated Northern Health, and Chief Nursing Officer, Andrew McLetchie the positions have yet to be filled but interviews have been lined up.

“We’ve been told that there are a lot of nurse practitioners who have expressed that they’re looking for work, so we’re hopeful that we’ll have a number of people interested in these positions. We’re expecting most of the applicants to be from Saskatchewan, but we’d be open to others who meet our licensure to come to the province,” McLetchie told northeastNOW.

“We feel that these practitioners will add a lot of capacity to rural and remote health care. I think people are aware of some gaps when it comes to physician coverage, so to have these practitioners work alongside physicians will add the capacity to meet the needs of people with chronic diseases or other conditions that are within their scope.”

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The first 25 positions were originally announced back in March, but McLetchie said it’s taken a bit of time to roll out and decide exactly what communities would be serviced.

Most will get one, while some may get multiple, as McCletchie added he’s excited to see the positions get filled.

“We’re keen and interested to see who applies and we’re trying to ensure that we fill as many positions as possible,” he said.

“Generally speaking, when we’ve talked with these communities and other health care practitioners, these additions have been received very positively. I think people appreciate the idea that there are needs and that nurse practitioners can be an effective part of the health care team.”

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