Health authority recruiting staff in Saskatoon to help struggling hospitals

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says it’s recruiting for more than 300 positions in order to help Saskatoon’s struggling hospitals.

The health authority announced its Saskatoon Capacity Pressure Action Plan in mid-November to address crowding at the city’s hospitals. The issue became so bad last month that the fire department was called to St. Paul’s Hospital after the number of patients in hallways created fire code issues.

The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses has also protested a lack of staffing in Saskatoon, calling it a safety issue.

On Tuesday, the health authority said 285 permanent and 81 temporary staff positions have been added to bolster Saskatoon’s health-care ranks, in both hospital and community settings.

“Recruitment for these positions is already underway, and will provide significant support to the ongoing efforts of staff and physicians providing tremendous care to our patients,” the authority said in a statement released 30 days into the plan.

The health authority said it is also working to add more community-based long-term care beds in Saskatoon to help ensure hospital capacity is available for acute patients.

John Ash, the health authority’s vice-president for integrated urban health in Saskatoon, said he’s grateful to the staff members in Saskatoon who are continuing to work under what he described as “challenging circumstances.”

“System pressures remain in Saskatoon, but we are making progress and are grateful for the hard work underway by our teams in creating innovative solutions and making needed changes to improve care delivery,” Ash said in a statement.

The provincial government is also enacting an action plan to add more staff to Saskatchewan’s health-care system, with the goal of adding 1,000 new workers over the next few years.