Politicians weigh in on constant reduced hours of Regina Urgent Care Centre

For another weekend, the Regina Urgent Care Centre closes early due to staff shortages, which has been a persistent problem for a while. Damian Smith reports.

It’s another weekend, and another day of reduced hours for the Regina Urgent Care Centre (UCC).

The centre typically runs from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., but Friday’s hours were cut from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., which is the third time operation hours have been shortened in the span of a week.

In a release on Thursday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) says that “the adjustments are due to physician availability and to proactively ensure the availability of services for patients.”

Originally, the centre was intended to be a 24/7 operation but has failed to complete that task since opening in July 2024.

“The government has tried to bring in urgent care centres as a solution, but the fact is that they can’t staff them,” NDP MLA Jared Clarke said on Friday. “But we’re going in the opposite direction where they can’t even keep them open, with reduced hours. This is a government that is driving nurses and doctors out of the province, it’s very concerning.”

The Government of Saskatchewan says that they are recruiting the next wave of physicians internationally. Minister of Health Jeremy Cockrill said on Wednesday that the United Kingdom and Ireland have been recruitment hotspots so far.

“You’re going to see investments being made by this government in the future, in terms of really targeting specific training opportunities for urgent care services so that we can attract new physicians into that space,” he said.

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Pointing to an Angus Reid Institute poll, the NDP says that Saskatchewan residents have the hardest time acquiring a family doctor.

Released in early February, the poll shows 22 per cent of people in the province do not have a family doctor, and 41 per cent reported difficulties in acquiring one.

“When I first became an MLA, the number that was presented was 200,000 people in the province who don’t have access to a family doctor,” Clarke said. “Using the Angus Reid polling, that number seems to have increased by almost 300,000 people, so I think we seem to be going in the wrong direction.”

To combat the shortage of physicians, the Government of Saskatchewan invested $17.1 million dollars to the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine to add more specialty residency seats and full-time academic physician positions.

“There’s still more work to do there, in terms of really firming up what our contracts look like with the doctors, providing coverage at the urgent care centre,” Cockrill said. “That work is underway and will continue over the next couple of months to try and get us to a better spot.”