Gov’t, U of S, & health districts launch Academic Health Sciences Network

Provincial cabinet ministers, university leaders and health district officials made a long-awaited announcement to a packed Royal University Hospital lecture theatre Jan. 30 when they officially launched the Academic Health Sciences Network – whose aim is to improve clinical care, medical teaching, and health research.

All parties told guests and news media the new Network – which initially includes the U of S’s seven health sciences departments, the provincial government, and the Saskatoon and Regina Health Districts – means a partnership where closer collaboration should produce “integrated teaching and learning models, targeted areas of research, primary health care, and specialty services”.

The Network’s first priority will be recruiting doctors and other health professionals, planning infrastructure needs, setting research priorities and designing integrated learning models for health care professionals.

Major advisory reports in recent years, including last year’s Fyke Report, have urged a closer working relationship like this.  Other health districts may join the Network in the future.

Health Minister John Nilson said the closer ties will mean that practitioners in local health districts will have better ways to improve their knowledge, and medical students will be able to work in both rural and urban settings.

He said for example it could give the U of S a presence in Estevan, possibly with a local seminar room there.

Post-Secondary Education Minister Pat Lorjé said the agreement could mean action on the University’s proposal for a major new health education building, which “the government supports in-principle”.  She said the government has asked the U of S to refine the plan, giving more details.

U of S Vice-President Academic & Provost Michael Atkinson said at the Network launch any planned new building will likely be “phased-in”, first addressing pressing needs.  He said recent collaboration with Saskatoon District Health to fix an operating-room allocation problem demonstrates the value of working together, and it can now be applied to health delivery and research productivity.

U of S colleges in the Network are: Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Kinesiology, Physical Therapy, Pharmacy & Nutrition, and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

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