“Make no mistake, we are in a health care crisis, and the Sask. Party government is making it worse,” Clarke said during a stop in Prince Albert on Aug. 11.
“What started as ER and surgery closures are now expanded into almost every part of our healthcare system.”
Clarke pointed to Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital, which he said saw 113 days of disruptions since 2018, including a 20-day stretch last spring.
He also said there have been cases of mothers giving birth on the side of the road and patients in crisis being rerouted because nearby ERs were closed.
“People show up literally to their local hospital and find a sign on the door telling them that the hospital is closed,” Clarke said.
Government says closures are real but steps are being taken
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said service disruptions do happen, but the province is working with affected communities and taking action to reduce them.
“We do have service disruptions from time to time around the province and… when they do happen, we engage with the local community and… provide them the information as best as we have it,” Cockrill said.
He said the government has added permanent full-time positions in 30 rural and remote communities, including Prince Albert, Shellbrook and North Battleford, converted 77 part-time or temporary positions into full-time roles, and hired more nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Cockrill also pointed to programs he said have made a difference in keeping services open, including the Virtual Physician Program — which he calls “highly successful… in terms of limiting the number of service disruptions in rural emergency rooms” — and point-of-care testing to speed up lab work.
He highlighted Meadow Lake as “one of the first communities in the province where we’ve hired a physician assistant… working part time in the emergency room,” with a University of Saskatchewan training program beginning this year to expand the role.
“As we continue to find more opportunities for training more kids from Saskatchewan and more kids in rural areas… we’re going to start to see improvement… but until we’re able to do that, it’s not good enough to just sit on our hands and do nothing,” Cockrill said.
“It’s things like that… that are going to help stem the tide of disruptions and provide better service closer to home.”
Clarke visited Prince Albert, Shellbrook and Meadow Lake Monday to highlight the data.
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