REGINA — The government and Official Opposition exchanged a war of words again over hospital ER wait times, this time over long waits in Prince Albert.
In a news release Thursday, the NDP accused Premier Scott Moe of playing “political games with a long-needed hospital expansion in Prince Albert” and pointed to leaked data that “shows the existing emergency department is overrun.”
According to data from a Saskatchewan Health Authority emergency department tracking dashboard from Monday, the ER at Victoria Hospital was at 112 per cent capacity, was short eight patient beds and waits for care were as long as 40 hours.
The NDP has been criticizing the government this week over leaked information about long ER wait times in various hospitals, including more than 100 hours in the ER at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. In its latest news release, the NDP accused the government of dismissing those leaks and claimed the SHA communications team was “run by a former Moe campaign insider.”
“This is the health authority’s own data — are they really saying we can’t even trust them to properly report on the chaos in Saskatchewan hospitals?” said Keith Jorgenson, NDP associate health critic, in a statement.
“Health care in Prince Albert and right across Saskatchewan is in worse shape than ever after 20 years of the Sask. Party. We know that while Scott Moe and his Ministers play political games, it’s patients that ultimately suffer.”
The NDP news release also again took aim at the government’s much-touted expansion project for Victoria Hospital.
It accused the government of trying to bill the City of Prince Albert $30 million for the Victoria Hospital expansion after the government had previously promised to fully fund the project. The government has previously stated that the full funding referred to the capital portion of the project and that the $30 million is to cover furniture and equipment, which was the responsibility of the local community and the Victoria Hospital Foundation. The government had said this arrangement was “clearly outlined” when the project was announced in 2020.
In an emailed response Thursday, the government said it is “fully funding the capital cost of the expansion of the Prince Albert Victoria Hospital which will increase inpatient bed capacity by 40 per cent. We are also adding an Urgent Care Center in Prince Albert to address emergency room capacity pressures.”
The government also again criticized the NDP over its characterization of the ER wait times in Prince Albert, saying the “wait time” the NDP referenced “does not represent the time it takes to see a physician or receive care. It reflects the total length of time a patient spends in the emergency department. Longer stays often indicate that patients are being assessed, treated, stabilized, admitted to an inpatient unit, or safely discharged following appropriate care provided by emergency nurses and doctors.”
“While the opposition continues to misrepresent operational health system data, our government is focused on delivering results for patients,” the government states.
In a statement, the SHA says: "Interpreting internal documents which are used regularly by health system experts to inform decision making outside of their intended context should be done with caution. The wait times referenced do not represent the time it takes to receive care or have access to an emergency room physician. The data referenced reflect the entire time a patient spends in the ED, which will vary from patient to patient depending on the acuity level and type of care required."
