Our Plan for Health Care

The Yukon Party is announcing its policy planks to ensure Yukoners throughout the territory have access to the right health care services when they need them.

This includes bold, achievable actions to improve Yukoners’ access to health care services through all stages of their lives and in all regions of the territory.

The Yukon Party will stabilize primary health care by:

• Continuing to build team-based care models in collaboration with front-line health care professionals, recognizing this model offers Yukoners the right care at the right time.
• Working with the Yukon Medical Association to ensure family practice clinics are viable by providing support for administration and clinic space and by cutting red tape.
• Ensuring that clinics owned by health care professionals are a viable option and encouraging multidisciplinary groups to open clinics together.
• Cutting red tape from the current physician payment model to ensure doctors are paid promptly and accurately.

The Yukon Party will attract and support health care professionals by:

• Increasing support for the recruitment of health professionals, including through a marketing campaign to encourage US health care professionals to move to the Yukon and practice in the territory.
• Working with the Yukon Medical Association and the Yukon Medical Council to streamline the process of recognizing foreign-trained doctors with similar standards, including the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
• Working with nurses to create a new regulatory model for nursing, including an arms-length regulatory body and adopting a competitive pay scale for nurse practitioners.
• Expediting the review of regulations under the Health Care Professions Act, including reviewing the Dental Act.
• Increasing the support for health care bursary programs for Yukon students.
• Establishing an Advisory Committee of Psychologists to improve the regulatory regime and address regulatory barriers to practice, including allowing Outside psychologists to practice in the territory and ensuring a pathway to registration for new graduates.
• Working with Pharmacists to expand their scope of practice.
• Increasing the incentives to attract new doctors under the successful New Grad/CCFP/RCPSC program implemented by a previous Yukon Party government.
• Developing more opportunities for pathways to health education, including a family medicine program, expanding nursing education and making new training options available for emergency medical services (EMS) staff and volunteers.
• Working with health care professionals to implement preventative health programs which focus on addressing health issues before they develop or worsen.
• Ensuring there are appropriate housing options to help recruit health care professionals to rural Yukon.

The Yukon Party will cut health care wait times and improve access to services by:

• Implementing a targeted blitz to reduce the current surgery backlog.
• Working with health care professionals to develop a Surgery Wait Time Action Plan, which will include wait-time standards for surgeries.
• Improving timely access to health services, including mammography, MRIs, cataract surgery and specialists.
• Reviewing medical travel rates and working to develop medical lodging options in Whitehorse and southern medical destinations such as Vancouver.

The Yukon Party will boost the capacity of hospitals by:

• Expanding Whitehorse General Hospital’s surgical services and building a new part of the hospital with space for 40 or more beds.
• Working with health care professionals to develop an infrastructure plan to ensure the territory’s hospitals keep pace with population growth.
• Work with health care professionals to identify alternative options for urgent care services that would reduce the burden on the hospitals.

The Yukon Party will also ensure sufficient continuing and long-term care space by:

• Planning and building a Continuing Care facility in Watson Lake.
• Developing a plan for the next phase of Whistle Bend Continuing Care facility and exploring options for another continuing care facility.
• Increasing the number of continuing care beds.
• Expanding home care services to help seniors live in their own homes longer.
• Providing better support to home care workers, social workers and community teams who enable Yukoners to stay healthy, independent and connected in their homes and communities.