811 Sask. health line revamped to reduce wait times, dropped calls

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has made several improvements to the province’s main health line phone service after complaints about dropped calls, inability to connect and long wait times.

Health officials have been directing people concerned about potential COVID-19 symptoms to the 811 health line since the beginning of the pandemic, but the service has been plagued with problems since experiencing a four-fold increase in calls.

On Wednesday, SHA noted the system had been expanded and the interface revamped to improve the service’s efficiency.

“There’s been a lot of work over the last week,” said Derek Miller, lead for the SHA Emergency Operations Centre.

The features, installed Tuesday, expanded 811’s capacity to 500 calls at a time – with the ability to expand in the future – and redesigned how callers interact with the service.

Callers are no longer asked for their health card numbers up front, and once on hold it no longer indicates what place a caller holds in line.

Instead, the service offers a call-back option that allows users to request a health expert to return their call at another time.

The new features allow for healthcare workers in Saskatoon or other cities to respond to callers, instead of just workers in Regina.

Miller said they’re already seeing many people take advantage of the call-back option, lessening the load on the main 811 line.

He added they’re continuing to increase the number of clinical staff who are available to help assess and advise callers.

The SHA did note there’s still the potential for “bandwidth” issues, where people can have difficulty connecting to the 811 line due to the increased number of people using external phone lines and internet services while working from home across Saskatchewan.

The health authority is continuing to ask people concerned they may have COVID-19 to make use of the SHA’s online self-assessment tool before calling 811.