Sask. patients treated in hallways has become ‘normalized’: nurses union

Allison Bamford takes a closer look at the increase of 'hallway medical care' becoming normalized amidst overcrowding, leaving families frustrated.

Capacity pressures forcing patients to receive care in Saskatoon hospital hallways are not seasonal issues, according to the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN).

Hallway medicine, as it’s known, is a sign of broader issues within the health care system, SUN President Bryce Boynton said.

“It’s been like this for years now,” he said. “(Hallway medicine) has become normalized, but it shouldn’t be.”

Late last month, a viral video showed hallways in Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital (RUH) crammed with patient beds. Family members that spoke to CTV News raised concerns about patient privacy and sanitation.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) addressed the video last week. Officials pointed to several compounding factors that led to capacity pressures, including high patient volumes, complex cases and seasonal flu.

Boynton said the SHA’s response is misleading.

“As a public health nurse, I understand the flu cycle quite well. Unless the flu started many years ago and hasn’t stopped since then, I think that’s a false narrative,” Boynton said.

“The current attempts by government and by the health authority to gaslight nurses and mislead the public is preventing any kind of recognition of the true state of health care, which prevents any progress.”

Boynton said he visited RUH this past spring in his role as SUN president. At that time, he noticed patients receiving care in the hallway known as the “E-Pod.” Since then, he said the hospital has created an “F-Pod” to expand hallway care.

Hallways are not equipped like hospital rooms, according to Boynton, and often don’t have the support for people who need oxygen and other critical measures.

This week, the SHA stood by its reasoning for current capacity pressures at RUH, which included seasonal flu and respiratory viruses, among other compounding factors.

Dennis Demeria said his week-long stay at RUH was “a real eye-opener.”

He said he waited 24 hours in the emergency department, then spent another two days receiving treatment in a hallway before being moved to a room.

“You go down these hallways and there’s just bed after bed after bed after bed,” he explained. “Beds filled with people, people with IVs, people with loved ones sitting with them.”

Demeria called the system “broken” as he described seeing health care workers “absolutely run off their feet.”

Despite the hospital being “an absolute zoo,” he said he was “well looked after.”

Boynton said a “system-wide failure” is to blame, which includes decreases in home care, long-term care and both rural and remote ER access that results in patients being funneled into urban hospitals.

“They’re not built for this. They don’t have the capacity – the physical space or the people – to take on this kind of work,” he said.

In a statement to CTV News, the SHA said over the past two weeks, Saskatoon hospitals have seen a 16 per cent decrease in the number of patients waiting in emergency departments to be admitted to acute care.

Current levels remain about 30 per cent higher than the three-month average, the statement said, although the average is 12 per cent lower than this time last year.

The health authority said the provincial government has provided more than $460 million to recruit, train and retain health care workers since 2022.

Between April 2023 and December 2024, nearly 350 physicians began practicing and 2,000 nursing graduates were hired in the province, according to the SHA.