by The government tabled a number of proposed changes to provincial healthcare legislation today.
Proposed amendments to the Hospitals Act would allow nurse practitioners to admit patients to hospital.
Only doctors, midwives and dentists can do that now.
Health Minister Michelle Thompson says giving the same power to nurse practitioners will mean timely access to healthcare and improved hospital efficiency.
The government is also proposing changes to the Prescription Monitoring Act that aims to reduce the abuse of medications.
Proposed changes include strengthening the oversight of the Health Department and increasing the number of public members of the Prescription Monitoring Board from two to four.
Meanwhile, the government has also tabled proposed amendments to the Health Information Act.
Those proposals include allowing custodians to audit records to check for privacy breaches and authorizing the Health Minister to review the act every five years.
The government is also looking to make changes to the Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment Act.
The province says the amendments would give a review board greater discretion, including the ability to replace a substitute decision-maker who isn’t acting in the best interest of the patient.
Other proposed changes include giving the review board the authority to order a patient to be treated in the community instead of in a facility.