The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is taking a big step in an effort to reduce ongoing capacity pressures.
Saskatoon City Hospital will be seeing an addition of 109 new acute care beds, totalling $15 million in new money from the provincial government. Andrew Will, SHA’s Chief Executive Officer is calling the expansion “significant”, equivalent to adding a new hospital in the city.
“It’s going to create a better experience for our patients and families, but it’s also going to create a better work environment that supports recruitment and retention of physicians and other staff as well,” said Will.
SHA says on average, 55 patients wait in Saskatoon emergency rooms for acute care beds — part of the problem when dealing with continued issues of overcapacity. Will said the hope in adding these beds is to ease the pressures the healthcare system faces on a daily basis.
Over 500 additional staff and physicians will need to be recruited, something which could be seen as an issue. City Hospital has already had to reduce its emergency department’s hours for the last three weeks due to a lack of physicians, an order SHA has extended until March 16.
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SHA said the reduced hours are due to the redeployment of one physician from Saskatoon City Hospital to other emergency departments to ensure they stay open.
“We’re confident that the positions here at Saskatoon City Hospital will be attractive for staff and looking to recruit people into these positions as we proceed through the four phases of implementing 109 beds.” said Will.
SHA said it will take 12 to 16 months to have the necessary staffing and renovations in place to get the beds up and running.
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