Province working to expand ICU capacity at Royal University Hospital

The provincial government is working to add space for more intensive care patients at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital.

Two requests for proposals will be issued this month to begin the second phase of a multi-year provincial strategy aiming to increase intensive care capacity. The goal is to expand the physical space at the teaching hospital in order to accommodate 26 more ICU beds “and create individual rooms for more appropriate patient care.”

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“It is crucial to meet the needs of Saskatchewan’s critically ill patients,” Everett Hindley, Saskatchewan’s health minister, said in a statement.

“Enhancing capacity within an ICU is complex and requires extensive planning to address construction, health human resource needs, beds and equipment. By improving the safety and quality of patient care, we are ensuring the health care system’s critical care needs are supported well into the future.”

The announcement comes after the Saskatchewan NDP and a nurses’ union sounded the alarm about crowding and poor conditions at hospitals in Saskatoon, including at Royal University.

“The health-care workers we are hearing from are scared that someone is going to die in the waiting room before they can get care,” NDP health critic Vicki Mowat told reporters last month.

“Our government is pleased to be expanding critical care infrastructure at Royal University Hospital to support the medical needs of our growing population,” Terry Jenson, minister for SaskBuilds and procurement, said in a statement.

“Thanks to a strong and growing economy we are able to make strategic investments like this, that reinforces our commitment to delivering quality health care to the people of Saskatchewan.”

John Ash, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s vice president of integrated Saskatoon health, said his organization is pleased to see the expansion moving ahead.

“This builds on the three ICU beds that were added earlier this year as part of the Saskatoon Capacity Pressure Action Plan,” Ash said in a statement.

“Our priority at SHA is safe, high-quality care, ensuring our health care teams can deliver vital, patient-centered support to our most critically ill patients, in the most appropriate setting.”