SASKATOON – The opposition NDP are once again raising alarm bells on the state of emergency rooms in the province.
At a news conference in Saskatoon, NDP seniors critic Keith Jorgenson was pointing to reduced ER hours in Saskatoon, pointing to the recent announcement by the province that Saskatoon City Hospital would be closing the emergency room after 6 p.m.due to a lack of healthcare staff.
The NDP is once again was portraying the Saskatchewan Party government’s Health Human Resources Action Plan as a “failed” strategy.
“On the worst day of your life you shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not your local ER is open,” Jorgenson said.
“But under the Sask Party that’s the reality of health care in Saskatchewan. This is putting patients in danger. Access to emergency medicine makes a difference between life and death”
Jorgenson once again pointed to the Lloydminster incident where a patient was diverted away from their local hospital and had to drive three times further to North Battleford “for a life-saving care, and that care tragically came too late.”
The Sask Party has been claiming that they’re for years that the recruitment strategy is working. But we can see with our very own eyes that it’s failing. Saskatoon City Hospital has some of the longest wait times in Canada,” Jorgenson said.
“RUH and St. Paul’s emergency rooms are at 200 and 350 percent capacity. Rural ERs are facing chronic closures. Emergency rooms are closing. Doctors are leaving our communities and instead of hiring more frontline health care workers, the Sask Party is expanding bureaucracy, hiring more middle managers. It’s clear that things need to change.”
Jorgenson called for the money spent currently on overtime to nurses to be used to create 720 full-time positions. He also repeated an NDP campaign pledge to have Saskatoon City Hospital open 24-7. And he called for the hiring of more frontline health workers instead of more middle managers and bureaucrats at the SHA.
“It’s time to start hiring workers in scrubs, not more workers in suits,” Jorgenson told reporters.
Jorgenson also repeated a challenge from last week to Minister of Health Jeremy Cockrill and to Premier Scott Moe — to spend “eight hours in one of our ERs here in Saskatoon and tell us that the recruitment strategy is working.”
SaskToday has reached out to the Saskatchewan government for a response. Their statement, from the Ministry of Health, is as follows:
“The Government of Saskatchewan is committed to stabilizing and strengthening health care across Saskatchewan. Our priority is to ensure that all Saskatchewan patients receive high-quality, accessible health care.
“To date, government has invested over $300 million in the Health Human Resources Action Plan to recruit and retain health-care workers in Saskatchewan.
“The number of licensed physicians in Saskatchewan increased 67 per cent between 2007 and 2024 – that is more than 1,100 doctors. This is a 53 per cent increase in general practitioners and an 85 per cent increase in specialists. Saskatchewan has one of the best physician compensation rates in the country, including special incentives for doctors in rural practice. We are training more doctors at home; we have added new residency training seats in family medicine, anesthesia, and psychiatry.
“Through the Saskatoon Capacity Pressure Action Plan, the Saskatchewan Health Authority has added 21 permanent acute care beds; three permanent ICU beds, 22 temporary flex admission beds, 84 LTC beds, and 74 transition beds in the community to support care in the right place. This initiative is being done to ensure that Saskatoon’s three adult hospitals—Royal University Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, and Saskatoon City Hospital—are prepared to serve Saskatchewan’s health care needs over the next decade.
“As indicated in the news release issued on Friday, City Hospital has temporarily adjusted its hours due to physician availability.”
With files from Jon Perez