The NDP Shadow Minister for Rural and Remote Health called out Saskatchewan healthcare issues in Swift Current on Thursday.
Speaking on disruptions, nurse workloads, nurse burnout, service closures and funding issues, Sask. NDP MLA for Regina Elphinstone-Centre, Meara Conway, gave a presentation on information she obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
She highlighted how the Cypress Regional Hospital has experienced 204 days of health disruptions since 2019. Within those, five were obstetrics, 191 were diagnostics with 80 days being the longest streak. In Maple Creek during the same time period, there were 91 days of disruptions to diagnostics, ER and lab services.
“We’re here to shine a light on those numbers provincially, but also specific to the community of Swift Current,” said Conway. “We are in a healthcare crisis. We’ve seen service closures in obstetric wards, emergency rooms, diagnostics, CT scanners, and more. People are being forced to travel further and wait longer for basic care.”
Conway also highlighted that next year, the Sask Party government is planning to cut healthcare budgets by $17 million.
“We think this is not a time to be cutting healthcare,” said Conway. “This is a time to be investing in healthcare. Every time a hospital service closes, it puts more pressure on surrounding communities and on the already overwhelmed regional hospitals, like here in Swift Current.”
She says that locally, nurses have spoken with her about high rates of burnout and how patient complexity and workloads are only increasing. According to Conway, Swift Current has one of the highest patient-to-nurse caseload ratios in the province.
She also highlighted how provincially, and in Swift Current, LPNs are being underutilized. This is during a staffing shortage for nurses, primary care, and lab techs, causing an overall lack of services.
“We heard stories of mothers having to give birth on the side of the road,” said Conway. “Of people in life-or-death situations being rerouted to hospitals (in other communities) because of closures.”
Conway is calling on the Sask Party government to invest in rural healthcare, provide training and retention incentives, and address the broader thematic issues being faced by healthcare workers.
“We think that reliable access to health care is absolutely essential in keeping rural communities intact, keeping them strong and keeping them vibrant,” said Conway. “The broader themes are all the same: that these disruptions are getting worse. That these communities will continue to get worse, especially with these healthcare cuts.”
Some solutions that Conway would like to see implemented regarding disruptions are more open lines of communication. One example she provided was the idea to start announcing service disruptions on social media, similar to how power outages are announced by SaskPower on feeds like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
“When a powerline goes down in my community, I can usually go on Twitter and figure out what’s going on,” said Conway. “You’re telling me you can’t tell me in real-time when there’s a disruption to my health facility?”
Conway allowed that there would be context for certain issues being sensitive enough that publicly announcing them may not be possible, but felt that in general, this would help alleviate patient concerns before they arrived to find out the service they need is currently unavailable.
“They used to do a lot more of it (communicating disruptions),” said Conway. “They’ve scaled back (communication), reflecting that these numbers make them look bad. Frankly, they need to put the public’s safety ahead of their reputation.”
For other issues, such as staffing incentives, workload management, and other issues being faced by medical professionals, Conway says there are ideas that have been submitted.
“Just earlier this week, I had an exchange with Jeremy Cockrill (Sask Party Minister for Health) in the legislature where he said ‘Well, gee, I wish the opposition wouldn’t focus so much on the challenges and offer up some ideas’,” said Conway. “The next day, I provided him a list of 32 good-faith ideas that I’d heard on this tour (from medical professionals).”
Conway highlighted how band-aid solutions like contract and travel nursing currently being used by the Sask Party are making certain problems worse.
One such solution for staffing in rural communities that Conway thinks would be effective is mentorship programs. She points to very little deep-end support in rural communities, where a mentorship program would allow new practitioners to feel like they have support to lean on.
“There’s not enough upskilling programs,” continued Conway. “This government could be doing a lot more to subsidize and support opportunities for people to upgrade.”
Finally, for the budget concerns, when asked what the NDP expect a good budget for healthcare to look like and how to support it, Conway highlighted that Saskatchewan is a rich province. However, she also believed there is money being spent in poor ways.
“There are a lot of cost savings in healthcare,” said Conway. “When you think about travel nurses, that’s exorbitant and very expensive, while also not going any distance to solving staffing issues.”
Conway believes in that if healthcare spending were to be cut, currently the NDP perspective is that the issues will only continue to fester.
“This is not an area where we can afford to cut right now unless we’re more comfortable seeing healthcare less accessible,” said Conway. “I don’t think that’s the case. (If this continues) I think we’re going to see these communities get smaller as people leave even in higher numbers than they are already.”
Swift Current Online has received a response from the Ministry of Health. Swift Current MLA Everett Hindley has also responded to this matter.
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