REGINA - Government ministers received a grilling from opposition members Wednesday on the health care issue again, this time over hospitals going on bypass last week.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck blasted away at Premier Scott Moe over the contents of a leaked copy of the critical care dashboard from April 25, showing four hospitals on bypass that day. That dashboard screenshot was obtained by the Opposition who also released it to the media.
The NDP also issued a news release Wednesday in which Beck and Mowat called on Premier Moe to “be transparent and publicly report hospital closures after a leaked SHA dashboard revealed four of Saskatchewan’s largest hospitals on bypass.”
The exchange between Beck and Moe on the issue in the Assembly was recorded in Hansard:
Ms. Beck: — “….We’ve received a leaked copy of the critical care dashboard dated April 25th of this year. It lays out the status of ICUs [intensive care unit] around lunchtime that day.
“Mr. Speaker, how were things on that particular day? Well at RUH [Royal University Hospital], St. Paul’s, Yorkton, and Swift Current, all of those hospitals were on bypass, sending patients for critical care elsewhere because they were overwhelmed.
To the Premier: do you think that it’s acceptable to have four of our largest ICUs turning patients away?”
Hon. Mr. Moe: — “Mr. Speaker, this most certainly is why we brought forward such an ambitious human resource plan in the health care sector. This is why the Minister of Health was travelling internationally, Mr. Speaker, alongside the Saskatchewan Health Authority, alongside the Ministry of Health as well as our immigration department to offer positions, front-line health care positions, Mr. Speaker, to those in the Philippines, those in other areas across Canada, to those that are graduating from Canadian universities, Mr. Speaker.
“We are starting to show results, Mr. Speaker. Over 400 offers have been made. Those folks are landing in our province, offering those services, bringing that assistance to our front lines here today. Over 100 jobs have been offered, Mr. Speaker, front- line health care jobs to Canadian graduates that are coming to our province to ensure that, as I said, the collective Canadian challenge that we are seeing — a lack of human resources, a lack of people offering and supporting those in our front lines — across the nation of Canada. Saskatchewan is not exclusive in this challenge, Mr. Speaker..."
Health Critic Vicki Mowat also blasted away at Health Minister Paul Merriman over the leaked dashboard.
Ms. Mowat: — “Mr. Speaker, the leaked dashboard tells a story of a health care system in crisis. Every ICU in the province, except for Swift Current, relying on contract nurses to remain open and operational. Hospitals with no beds or ventilators for very sick patients. Hospitals with more critically ill patients than beds, and not enough staff. And ICUs in Saskatoon, Yorkton, and Swift Current on bypass, unable to accept new patients. And sadly, none of this is an abnormal experience.
“When will the Minister of Health get to work on fixing the crisis in our hospitals, and when will he stop hiding the truth about the crisis in our hospitals?”
Hon. Mr. Merriman: — “Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The member opposite referenced contract nurses. These are 200 individuals that we do have contracted, that have been used under previous governments, that are used across Canada. Is it the member’s position that we should fire those contract nurses and have more service disruptions, Mr. Speaker, because I would really like for them to stand up and put that on the record what we should do with those contract nurses.
“Mr. Speaker, as the Premier outlined, we have a very robust human resource plan. I’ll give it to you by the numbers, Mr. Speaker. 550 new seats across 18 positions, 150 more nursing seats. 420 jobs by Filipinos who will be in the gallery tomorrow joining us, who have just arrived here from the Philippines, Mr. Speaker. 171 physicians in 19 months, 69 family doctors. 168 nursing grads from right here in Saskatchewan that have been hired since December, Mr. Speaker. 111 health care workers have been hired since October, Mr. Speaker, and 105 people have maximized their incentive of up to $50,000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”
Ms. Mowat: — “Absolute nonsense from that minister, Mr. Speaker. He knows we need full-time people working in those jobs, but we’d have to have a real retention plan to make that happen.
“Mr. Speaker, there’s no reason for this tired and out-of-touch government to keep information hidden from Saskatchewan people, but this is their MO [modus operandi]. Hide as much information as possible. Take down the family doctor directory in Saskatoon. Send out hush memos to doctors and nurses, and hope that no one talks to the opposition or the media about how bad things really are in our hospitals.
“Why won’t this tired and out-of-touch government tell Saskatchewan people the truth about the state of our hospitals and make this dashboard public?”
Hon. Mr. Merriman: — “I’m not sure what they’re talking about the ICU hush memo, Mr. Speaker. It’s hidden right out there on the internet, Mr. Speaker. We update it every five minutes of what our hospital capacity is, Mr. Speaker. They can find that information.
“As I’ve identified, Mr. Speaker, there are pressures within our hospital system. Nobody is denying that. That’s why we came up with a plan back in September. That’s why we actioned that plan…
“Mr. Speaker, it is very, very depressing to be able for them to run down . . . Our health care workers are continuing to work all the time, Mr. Speaker, to be able to make sure that our health care system is running at its best. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”
In speaking to reporters, Merriman noted there was information available showing various departments' capacity on the Web, for Saskatoon.
He said Saskatoon had a “very good website where you can go on and see where every department is, where every capacity (is). I’ve actually asked the SHA to look at duplicating that for Regina so there’s transparency, people can see what the capacity is.”
Merriman also noted there was an internal processes to determine flow that are for patient use and moving people from one area to another — from the emergency room to surgical to recovery.
In speaking to reporters, Mowat said that what the Minister was referring to in Question Period was a dashboard that shows “basically the number of beds that exists in some of the major hospitals. So it doesn’t include details around which hospitals are on bypass. It doesn’t include any details about contract nurses or reliance on contract, nurses which we have asked questions about.”
She also said that the information in their leaked critical care dashboard was “a typical snapshot of what a day looks like. This was not cherry picked out of the files. This is a daily report of critical incidents in our health care system.”
