REGINA — The provincial government is directing the Saskatchewan Health Authority to double the number of service disruption notifications it provides on its website.
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill confirmed to reporters that the government has directed the SHA to increase the frequency of temporary emergency service disruption notifications from once daily at 4 p.m. to at least twice daily, at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., on the SHA website starting May 19.
Since Nov. 10, the website had been posting updates at 4 p.m. each day. The province has been under considerable pressure to increase reporting on ER service disruptions to include real-time information on closures.
Cockrill said the government had been working with the SHA to “get to that point of understanding what’s workable from an operational perspective.”
“Really as we work with Saskatchewan Health Authority and our operational teams right across the province, in facilities large and small, really working towards providing this information to patients as soon as possible," Cockrill said.
"I think eventually we’ll get closer to real-time information. But at this point this is what’s workable with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, and again we look forward to again working with them to implement what’s in the Patients First Plan.”
Cockrill also reiterated that the government’s focus is on “getting rid of temporary service disruptions.” He said they are doing that by training more physicians, training more nurse practitioners and filling nursing vacancies around the province.
“That’s going to be our focus. Patients can always expect this government to put patients first and attempt to give them the best information possible as soon as we have it.”
As for why the move was not made sooner, Cockrill said it has been a process and noted that even the switch to daily 4 p.m. notifications last fall “took some work operationally” to achieve consistency across the province.
“As we have achieved that consistency, now we can work on the frequency.”
NDP closure notifications bill defeated
The province’s announcement came the same day third reading was scheduled for the Opposition’s Bill 606, aimed at requiring the SHA to report in real-time information on ER disruptions and closures.
The bill had received unanimous support at second reading from both the NDP and Sask. Party and was considered in committee with no amendments. However, at third reading the NDP bill was defeated Thursday as the Sask. Party majority voted against it.
Afterwards the mover of the bill, the NDP's Jared Clarke, voiced his disappointment.
"Yeah, definitely disappointed with the Sask Party killing Bill 606 this morning," Clarke told reporters.
"We brought this bill forward in the fall because we have seen an 800 per cent increase in emergency room closures during Scott Moe's time as Premier. This is a growing issue, and we see health care worse now than it's ever been. So this bill was about basic transparency for rural Saskatchewan people, and today every Sask Party MLA stood and they voted in favour of keeping their constituents in the dark as to whether or not their ER is open or closed."
As for the move to twice a day reporting by the SHA, Clarke said it was not enough.
"Hospital closures happen all the time at various times of the day. We have dragged the Sask Party kicking and screaming to this point. When we introduced Bill 606 in the fall, all of a sudden they're reporting it once at 4 p.m. Today we're going to vote on this bill and lo and behold they are going to report it twice a day. But the fact still remains these are not real time reporting. These are hospital closures that have happened in the past. And so if I'm having an emergency in rural Saskatchewan, I should be able to know whether or not I should move ahead to my local emergency room or not."
