The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) unveiled an action plan Tuesday to “mitigate and resolve” Saskatoon’s ongoing hospital overcrowding issues.

Last week, the Ville des Ponts Fire Department reported that the Saint-Paul Hospital building did not meet fire safety standards due to the large number of beds in the hallways.

The President and CEO of the SHAAndrew Will, recognizes that overcrowding in hospitals and emergency departments is causing problems a difficult environment for both patients and healthcare workers.

With the publication of this action plan, the SHA Commits to taking concrete steps to address the immediate capacity pressures facing staff and patients while implementing long-term solutions to strengthen health services in Saskatoonsays Mr. Will in a press release.

The action plan is called Saskatoon Capacity Pressure Action Plan (SCPAP) (in English), (New window) contains a list of measures that SHA plans to implement it now, over a period of 90 days and over the next three to six months.

The key measures are aimed at ensuring that patients receive the right care in the right settingWrite it down SHA.

The action plan particularly aims to increase hospital capacity by creating 32 transitional beds in hospitals by the end of November from Saskatoon.

There SHA also provides for the deployment of health professionals specialized in primary care to strengthen emergency services and hospital units. They will also be responsible for determining which patients can benefit from home care to limit hospitalizations.

There SHA will also require more health workers to cope 43 additional beds at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, including 21 temporary inpatient beds and 22 temporary flexible and transitional beds.

However, the Saskatchewan Health Authority did not provide details on the number of new workers being deployed under this action plan, nor did it provide further information on their job skills.

Long-term solutions

Further action will be taken over the next 90 days to acquire additional beds and strengthen community resources for home care and palliative care.

Although the SHA expected instant relief Thanks to the short-term measures, further long-term changes will be considered in the next three to six months, she adds.

The provincial health authority plans to give patients who don’t have a primary care doctor quick access to primary care to prevent them from going to the hospital or emergency room.

There SHA also wants to develop specific community programs in emergency services Deliver better patient care and prevent acute care admissions.

An action plan that is met with criticism

According to the Saskatchewan Nurses Union, additional efforts are needed to address current health system challenges.

The union’s president, Tracy Zambory, regrets the lack of transparency in the action plan presented by the union SHA.

If some of the announced measures had really worked, they would have already been implemented on the front linesthinks Ms. Zambory.

With this announcement, no effort is made on their part to begin work for the thousand or so trained nurses that are missing from this systemShe adds.

The leader of the official opposition, Carla Beck, also believes that Scott Moe’s government is not doing enough to protect the health system.

With information from Fatoumata Traore