When the provincial government announced this week they were going to be consolidating the 12 health regions into one provincial authority, it caught the attention of everyone, particularly CUPE. The Canadian Union of Public Employees represents workers in the healthcare system in Saskatchewan, including many here in the Weyburn area.

Sandra Seitz is the president of CUPE Local 5999. She explained the entire process is still in the early stages, but they are watching closely.

“One of the concerns, and it always is for healthcare workers, is how is this going to affect the delivery of care, particularly in rural Saskatchewan,” Seitz told Discover Weyburn. This was an issue also addressed earlier this week by Gordon Campbell with CUPE’s health council in Regina.

The provincial government has said the process is going to have minimal effect on the frontline delivery of health care services in the province, but the unions are still waiting for the assurances.

“They are touching on some other areas they may be looking at to provide a different delivery of service, so that, you know, we will be watching closely,” Seitz said. She added that there are still impacts being felt from the last time there was a consolidation in the healthcare system, when the province went from 32 health districts to 12 health regions in 2002.

The provincial government hasn’t announced a timeline for the process to be completed as of yet, but it is expected the provincial health authority will be in place by the fall.