The leader of the Saskatchewan NDP toured east-central Saskatchewan, visiting healthcare facilities.
Carla Beck’s tour comes as service disruptions have affected hospitals in Kamsack, Canora, and Melville in recent weeks. Currently, Beck noted there are 37 current disruptions province-wide.
Her tour of hospitals in Yorkton, Melville, Canora, and Kamsack is also being done nearly a week after Minister of Rural and Remote Health Everett Hindley toured facilities at Esterhazy, Kamsack, and Yorkton.
At a stop in Yorkton today, Beck believes the disruptions are causing a domino effect in the province.
“You have centres around, be it Melville or Canora or Kamsack closed, folks have to get in the car and go down the highway to places like Yorkton that are already struggling with some of the same issues – understaffing, overcapacity – and those impacts keep going down the line.” she said.
Beck called on the Sask. Party government to come to the table for discussions with local health care leaders to build a strong recruitment plan that offers full time jobs for health care workers, rather than part-time or casual ones.
“We hear from healthcare workers that they’re feeling demoralized, that they are tired of working short, and that they feel like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel,” Beck said. “This is the job of leaders to show that not only they recognize there is an issue, but they get to work and actually start finding some of those solutions.”
“The closures that we’re seeing right now are not because of a lack of facilities, they’re because of a lack of staffing, and that really needs to be addressed in an urgent way. We have Mayors and Councils, community members, healthcare workers all sounding the alarm, this is a system that is in crisis and needs attention.” Beck added.
Last week, when speaking about staffing issues at Kamsack’s Hospital, Hindley said staffing challenges is not just isolated to just one community, it is also being felt in communities such as Biggar, Herbert and Maple Creek. Hindley added there is concern that these disruptions could stunt the potential growth of communities like Kamsack.
Hindley noted that the province is trying to recruit new healthcare workers for all areas of the province. Hindley also said that this year’s budget has extra incentives for rural health-care workers, while training seats have been enhanced and expanded.