Overcrowding at Saskatoon’s St. Paul’s Hospital means ER expands into ambulatory care unit

It was just one week ago, the the province’s NDP raised the alarm about overcrowding at Saskatoon’s St. Paul’s and Royal University Hospitals.

John Ash, the SHA’s Saskatoon VP of Integrated Health, confirmed in a telephone interview that overcrowding in the Emergency Department at St. Paul’s Hospital has not eased off.

The overcrowding has got to the point that the ambulatory care unit — otherwise known as the outpatient services unit — will be taken over for the next seven days.

The unit has never been taken over for that many days at one time. It will add up to 14 additional admitted patients to the emergency department.

“We will be re-evaluating that as time progresses because obviously, we don’t want to make a decision that is actually going to put additional pressure on our emergency department,” he said.

It’s an issue that’s been going on for at least the last couple of weeks.

“As a result of that, the inpatient care spaces are full, and the impact of that is patients that are admitted in the Emergency Department are having to wait longer to get up into an inpatient bed to receive care,” Ash said.

That means the patients stay longer in the ER, and in turn, means chronic overcrowding and space pressures.

Ash said the ambulatory care unit typically runs from Monday to Friday, but sometimes overnight or on evenings it’s empty and that’s why that space is now being used.

“We’ve made the decision to relocate the outpatient clinics that are operating in ambulatory care to other spaces within our health system so that the appropriate care and access isn’t interrupted,” he added.

Typically, the outpatient services are booked through doctors offices, Ash said the SHA is working with them and with surgeons to let patients know where to go in the meantime.

Although Saskatoon hospitals aren’t seeing the surge of COVID and flu-related illnesses in local hospitals as in years past, Ash said seasonal increases, especially before Christmas occur, and he cited a number of other reasons for the current overcrowding situation.

“What’s important to remember is that Saskatoon — Saskatchewan as a whole — has seen significant growth in population and of that, Saskatoon itself has probably seen the largest growth in population.”

He also said as the population ages more seniors are also accessing medical services.

When asked whether the SHA’s Capacity Pressure Action Plan unveiled in Nov. 2023 is working, Ash said it was.

Eighty four long term care beds have been added as part of the plan so far, along with 74 transition care beds where a patient doesn’t require acute care in the hospital anymore, but still needs some degree of community care at another facility in a safe environment.

“Those investments definitely have made a significant difference in our ability to accommodate and adjust to these surges,” he added. “I think we are in a much, much better position than we would have been.”

In the meantime, all patients who access ambulatory care at St. Paul’s Hospital will be notified whether their services are being moved to another location.