A social media post from the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) is gaining traction online after saying 41 patients at St. Paul’s emergency department are without ward beds.
The information comes from an emergency room nurse who is just one of many nurses calling for help.
Just last week, the union posted on X, formerly Twitter, that 33 patients were without a bed.
The quote from the Saskatoon ER nurse says the situation is worse than in November 2023, when nurses rallied across the province.
“It has progressively gotten worse since June and all the fixes promised in the capacity action plan are used up and we are being given no more solutions,” the message reads.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority’s action plan is meant to take the pressure off Saskatoon’s hospitals.
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Within the first few weeks, the plan included adding temporary staff to acute care units. Within three months, the SHA promised to add more long-term and convalescent care beds in the community.
Now nearly 10 months later, the union of nurses says they continue to face extremely hard challenges and the situation hasn’t improved.
“We’re hearing of absolute chaos and what we’re hearing most of all is that they’ve lost all hope because of what’s gone on in the hospitals,” SUN president Tracy Zambory said. “When the patients without beds gets into the 40s, it should be a tipping point.
“They’ve got so many patients that they don’t know how to manage them. Care is being given in the waiting rooms and it is just nothing but a battleground of broken promises.”
Official opposition health critic Vicki Mowat said a health-care whistleblower told the NDP a patient had been stuck in the emergency room for over 140 hours.
“They’re worried that there’s going to be a death or a serious illness or something that happens on their watch (because of the lack of beds),” Mowatt said about nurses in the province.
Mowat adds that the issues have been ongoing in other hospitals around the province as well, as people struggle to access a family doctor.
In an emailed response, the SHA said it is working with emergency departments to make sure capacity response plans are being implemented and that work is underway to address emergency room flow.
“Our intention is to always care for patients in an appropriate care environment, eliminating the use of hallway beds in our emergency departments whenever possible,” the statement reads. “However, capacity pressures can ebb and flow meaning we must also adapt to meet demand, while providing safe, high quality care at all times.
“We acknowledge there continue to be volume and acuity pressures in our emergency departments and inpatient wards in Saskatoon. Ongoing work to address emergency room flow is helping to eliminate use of hallway beds.”
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