Overcapacity Saskatoon hospitals at breaking point, NDP says

Two major hospitals in Saskatoon are at breaking point from issues caused by being at overcapacity, according to the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP).

St. Paul’s Hospital has been operating at 200 per cent overcapacity since the beginning of October, while Royal University Hospital has been operating at 300 per cent overcapacity in the same time period, NDP health critic Vicki Mowat said at news conference in the city on Friday.

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This has resulted in patients receiving care in hallways, emergency room waiting rooms and more, and Mowat said changes need to be made soon.

“We simply have to be able to provide health care to people in this province,” she said. “We have hit a breaking point — there is no option, something has to change at this point.”

More than a year ago, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) released a plan of action to address the over capacity, which it partially attributed to population growth.

The City of Saskatoon estimates its population grew by approximately 14,400 from Oct. 1, 2022 to Oct. 1, 2023.

Mowat said that while population growth is a factor, it’s not the number one reason why the problem has got worse.

“We certainly need to keep up with (the) growing population, (but) one of the challenges with these hospitals in the city is they serve the whole province,” said Mowat.

“They don’t simply serve Saskatoon .. there are specialties in Saskatoon that take patients from Regina as well.”

In March the SHA also proposed a plan to move patients who are recovering to convalescent care or long-term care facilities to free up hospital beds.

Mowat said while she is aware of the project she doesn’t know how well it’s working.

“What I do know is that the current measures in place are not alleviating pressure in the emergency rooms,” said Mowat.

“We need a complex and comprehensive plan that is created with health-care workers to address these situations.”

Mowat said the NDP had been working with health-care workers to find a solution.

One solution the party has suggested to ease over-capacity problems is by keeping the emergency room at City Hospital open for 24 hours. It is now only open from 9 a.m to 8:30 p.m. daily.

The Government of Saskatchewan said in a statement that the SHA is working on an extensive plan to enhance health-care capacity in Saskatoon’s hospitals and long-term care facilities.

It invested $700,000 in 2023-24 and $2.6 million annually to bolster emergency medical services in Saskatoon, the government statement said.

The statement also said the SHA is committed to supporting staff to provide the best possible care and has developed an over-capacity protocol with frontline staff. Recent measures included opening 21 surge spaces at St. Paul’s, along with 26 inpatient and two intensive care unit space at RUH.

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