Two new metal detectors are now screening people entering St. Paul’s Hospital, part of a safety program the Saskatchewan Health Authority says is already preventing weapons from entering some facilities. The SHA says the detectors became operational at the main entrance to the hospital on Oct. 7. Earlier this year, the SHA introduced metal detector screening programs at eight health-care sites across Saskatchewan. Those sites include hospitals in Prince Albert, North Battleford, Saskatoon and Regina, as well as the Regina Urgent Care Centre. “This model of improving hospital safety is clearly working,” the SHA said in a news release Thursday. “Internal reviews have demonstrated that screening processes at facilities where metal detectors have been installed have already prevented concealed weapons from entering facilities.” The new security measures stem from the findings of an independent review of hospital safety launched in the spring and led by former Saskatoon police chief Clive Weighill and the firm Buckingham Security. The health authority says the independent review is ongoing.
