The 2025 Saskatchewan budget is working to improve health care throughout the province by increasing funding, working on improving access and hiring more professionals.

Emergency medical services will be getting $6.6 million in funding for new paramedics.

Diagnostic imaging will be receiving $6 million to increase specialized medical imaging in an attempt to help reduce wait times.

Additionally, the government is providing $7.6 million for enhancing and expending pediatric care, including specialist recruitment. Healthline 811’s virtual ER physician program is getting $6.6 million to expand its support; $4.3 million is being allocated to expanding the kidney health program; $2 million is being provided to enhance laboratory medicine; $1.9 million is allocated to completing and staffing the new breast health centre in Regina and $1.9 million to support operating costs for the urgent care centre in Regina.

The government said this budget will work to deliver better and more prompt patient access to team-based primary care.

The government is also providing $42.4 million in funding for preventative care initiatives to help meet the health-care needs of those residing in the province.

The budget also shows the government is working on supporting primary care improvements by providing $5 million in funding. This includes the expansion of the patient medical homes to new communities following the successful pilot in Swift Current.

This budget is providing increased funding of $7.1 million for immunization and program enhancements.

Starting April 1, young adults aged 25 and under and seniors aged 65 or older with diabetes will benefit from an additional $23 million in funding for the glucose monitoring expansion program.

This budget includes new funding to transition to HPV self-screening for cervical cancer, the promise to make progress on the lung cancer screening program, reduce the age of breast cancer screening to 43 and add a second mobile mammography bus.

The budget also will work on accelerating hiring and growth of the health-care workforce through a multi-year health human resources action plan — recruit, train, re-train and incentivize working in health care.

The University of Saskatchewan’s college of medicine will be receiving an increase of $7.4 million in funding to add 10 training seats for family medicine, anesthesia, plastic surgery and other specialties, creating a total of 150 new seats.

The government will be providing a $4.9 million dollar increase to add 65 new and enhanced permanent full-time nursing positions in rural and northern locations to improve nursing stability and reduce the need for contract nurses.

Additionally, the budget will provide a $94.6 million increase in funding for physician services to recruit and retrain doctors, as well as funding for negotiated Saskatchewan medical association fee increases, increased utilization of services and additional physicians.

The government said this budget will continue building momentum on strategic investments and successful programing within the multi-year mental health and addictions action plan by improving patient access to professionals and services and to deliver the help and support needed to overcome the challenges of mental health and addictions.

The budget is also providing new capital funding to expand the complex needs emergency shelters to new communities.

Provincial health-care infrastructure will be getting an investment of $656.9 million, which is an increase of $140.1 million from last year’s budget.

Major investments include:

• $322.4 million for Prince Albert Victoria Hospital construction.
• $40 million for Regina Long-Term Care Specialized Beds construction.
• $33.8 million for construction of the La Ronge Long-Term Care facility.
• $24.4 million for Weyburn General Hospital construction.
• $10 million for Grenfell Long-Term Care project construction.
• $3 million to advance the Saskatoon Urgent Care Centre (UCC), in partnership with Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments.

The government added that due to the success of the urgent care centre in Regina, planning is underway for additional urgent care centres in Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford and for second centres in both Saskatoon and Regina.

Other capital investments will be used for leading-edge and upgraded technology, equipment and innovations.

Continuing care will be receiving a funding increase of $7.1 million to fund care for all ages to help residents remain at home and within their communities for as long as possible.

The budget includes an additional $30.4 in funding for the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency to deliver access to oncology drugs, therapies and treatment options, bringing its budget to $279.3 million.

The government is working towards completing its commitment with a fertility treatment tax credit to improve affordability for those accessing fertility treatments.

Mental health care:

The Saskatchewan government is allocating $623.8 million dollars for addictions and mental health care within the province. This is an increase of $52.8 million from 2024’s budget.

Of the overall health budget, 7.7 per cent of funding is allocated to mental health and addictions initiatives. Specifically, $486.7 million is being dedicated to mental health and $137.1 million is being allocated to addictions care.

Additionally, a new $20.1 million will be put towards expanding access to services and support.

Saskatchewan said it is creating 500 new addiction treatment spaces with the use of $15.8 million — effectively doubling available spaces in the province.

The government is providing $4.4 million in new targeted funding to be used to:

• Increase access to addictions medicine across the province by implementing a new Virtual Access to Addictions Medicine Program and adding supports for the existing Opioid Agonist Therapy Program in the province.
• Support the development of a central intake and navigation system that patients can contact directly to self-refer for treatment.
• Fully fund the HOMEBASE Integrated Youth Services Site and open the final site at Sturgeon Lake First Nation.
• Fund two additional five-bed homes for youth with chronic mental health and addictions issues.
• Facilitate the transition to a recovery-oriented system of care model, which provides an improved focus on treatment and recovery.
• Increase funding for the Bridgepoint Centre for Eating Disorder Recovery.

The remaining $27 million in the budget will be used to increase the utilization of hospital-based services, physician visits and prescription drug costs.