Overcapacity concerns re-emerging in Saskatoon emergency rooms

WATCH: The Saskatchewan NDP says overcapacity at two Saskatoon emergency rooms has heightened concern among staff.

The Saskatchewan NDP says overcapacity at two Saskatoon emergency rooms has heightened concern among staff.

“Staff have described the situation in the emergency rooms in this city as being akin to a war zone,” NDP health critic Vicki Mowat said at a news conference Thursday.

Mowat said as of Wednesday afternoon, 93 patients were in the Royal University Hospital’s emergency room designed for about half that number. St. Paul’s Hospital wasn’t much better, according to Mowat, with 53 patients in the emergency room meant for 28 people.

Stretchers were lining the hallways and patients were being treated in waiting rooms. Mowat said this has left staff burnt out knowing they aren’t providing the optimal care patients need.

“One staff member said, ‘I was on my way to the cafeteria and walked by admitted patients,’” Mowat said. “No dignity, no privacy, no curtains.”

John Ash, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s (SHA) vice president of integrated health for Saskatoon, said the health authority is working to improve the working environment to help take that mental burden off of its staff.

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Recent improvements are allowing nurses and other staff to treat patients immediately where they are.

“Patients aren’t waiting. If patients aren’t waiting, they’re not as frustrated. Care staff feel that they’re able to provide the care that patients need in a more timely manner, which increases their satisfaction, which helps with retention,” Ash said.

Mowat said while Saskatoon is no stranger to experiencing overcapacity in its emergency rooms, the situation became so bad on Wednesday that she heard from nurses at both hospitals within an hour of one another.

Staff aren’t able to provide simple care in private.

“We’re talking about seniors who built this province who are not being treated with dignity and respect because there simply isn’t the privacy to change them when they’re in a public hallway,” Mowat said.

In March, the province said it would earmark $15 million to address capacity pressures and shift its focus on Saskatoon City Hospital by adding 109 acute care beds at that facility. That plan was in addition to the $30 million the province announced in its 2024-2025 budget to address capacity pressures in Saskatoon and Regina.

Ash said the plan for City Hospital “is progressing very well.” He suspects roughly 20 beds will be added in August and another 20 will be added in October. The remaining beds will be available in January.

“Not only are we doing some improvement work to make sure people accessing the emergency department are getting access quickly, but we’re also doing work on the back end to make sure that we have the right capacity to be able to manage, and get patients to the care environments they need within the hospitals,” Ash said.

Until then, Ash and his colleagues will work to improve internal processes when emergency rooms are full.

“So patients are getting access quickly. They’re not waiting as much to see a nurse, to see a doctor, or to get their diagnostics or their tests or treatment done. We’re starting to implement that and we’re seeing some really positive results from that,” Ash said.