REGINA — For roughly a month, Regina’s Urgent Care Centre (UCC) has seen a handful of shortened hours.
Since Jan. 17, the UCC has reduced its hours seven times (Jan. 17, Jan. 18, Jan. 25, Feb. 20, Feb. 21, Feb. 22, Feb. 24).
On Friday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) also announced the UCC would reduce its hours on Saturday, Feb. 28., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and be closed on Sunday, March 1.
Dr. Alan Beggs, deputy chief medical officer with the SHA for integrated Regina health, explained why this is happening.
“We have a pool of physicians that serve the schedule of the Regina Urgent Care Centre, and that pool is split between family physicians in active family practice and emergency physicians in active emergency medicine practice. So, there are some variations in availability over the time of service.”
While the UCC has a few full-time employees, Beggs noted most physicians serving Regina’s UCC are family members and can have other responsibilities pulling them away.
“They may have partners in their practice who are exploring other options, have health issues, family issues, etc.”
He added, “I [also] think most of our family care practitioners prioritize their primary care practices and their patient loads there over the Urgent Care Centre with respect to the urgency of need.”
In addition to these responsibilities, UCC physicians are gradually relocating to other practices, cities, or even countries over time, Beggs noted.
“That's always an issue, both for getting physicians in and out, that there's always some migration."
Deciding on reducing hours
For the UCC, Beggs explained that they operate a staggered shift system.
“With the physicians and nurse practitioners, we have a rolling schedule, and we have schedulers that are doing that work weeks and weeks in advance.”
At the UCC, usually between two and six physicians or equivalent nurse practitioners will serve overlapping shifts a day.
In the case of gaps in the schedule, the SHA will call physicians to cover those.
“But, we do have sort of red lines where we have to make decisions with respect to, for example, this weekend, and we'll make those decisions well in advance so that we can effectively communicate with the public.”
While having reduced hours, Beggs said the UCC will divert patients with higher acute care needs to the two hospitals in Regina. This can leave the UCC with short-staff on certain days to focus on smaller medical needs.
Addressing workers
Beggs said the SHA is actively investigating all of those recruitment options.
“We're willing to look at all the physicians with the skill set appropriate to the Urgent Care Centre, whether they want to have an active primary care practice as well,” he said.
Since most physicians at the UCC have other responsibilities, Beggs didn’t leave out the possibility of hiring new ones specifically for the centre.
“[We'll] look at all those different models, and we're obviously happy to recruit in physicians who want to have a specialized practice just in urgent care delivery versus those who want to carry an outpatient clinic load as well.”
As spring rolls around, Beggs said there will still be risks to staff shortages at the centre.
"[Our goal] is to manage those potential risks moving forward to try and mitigate any closures.”
While the UCC isn’t operating, patients experiencing medical emergencies should call 9-1-1 or proceed to the nearest hospital emergency department at:
- Regina General Hospital – 1440 14th Avenue, Regina; or
- Pasqua Hospital – 4101 Dewdney Avenue, Regina.
Patients with non-medical emergencies can access care by:
- Calling HealthLine 811 – For professional health and mental health advice available 24/7.
- Visit a walk-in clinic – Check local clinic hours as weekend schedules may vary.
- Connect with your pharmacy – Some pharmacies may be open and can assist with minor health concerns.
