In the image, captured by a healthcare worker this week, patients can be seen crammed into portable beds occupying a part of the hospital previously used for registration and still currently being used for rapid access to addictions medicine registration – an outpatient department.
“We used to lead the nation in healthcare, but after 18 years of Scott Moe and the Sask. Party we are ranked dead-last in Canada,” said Meara Conway, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Health.
“No one should ever be on a hospital bed near a registration desk. No one should ever have to receive life-altering medical news in a packed room, just inches away from complete strangers.
“Saskatchewan people deserve so much better from Scott Moe and the government. Healthcare workers and patients deserve so much better from their government.”
For months, horrific images of hallway healthcare at Saskatoon hospitals have circulated online and in the media. Some videos have even gone viral, amassing hundreds of thousands of views.
The Sask. Party has yet to address a letter from roughly 450 healthcare workers concerned about conditions in Royal University Hospital, and a second letter signed by more than 200 healthcare workers at St. Paul's.
“It’s time for Scott Moe to unveil a real plan and take immediate action to reduce overcrowding, improve staffing levels and retention, and address patient flow.”
Conway added that her team has personally met with frontline ER nurses and staff at St. Paul’s and RUH.
“These frontline providers are full of solutions aimed at short and long term change. Where are Jeremy Cockrill and Scott Moe? This is the work government should be doing.”
Conway says that the Saskatchewan NDP is engaged in widescale consultation to deliver big, bold change in healthcare. She says the details will be coming in the months ahead and indicated that solutions for overcrowded hospitals have been a major part of her discussions across Saskatchewan.
“Frontline healthcare workers are at their breaking point,” said Nathaniel Teed, Saskatchewan NDP Labour Shadow Minister. “They’re being asked to work in unimaginable conditions every day and I hear from every person I talk to that they don’t feel like the provincial government has their backs. In fact, Scott Moe is missing in action as the healthcare system crumbles all around us.”
The Sask. Party-run Health Authority has tried to downplay hallway healthcare as temporary surges.
“Only big, bold change – and a change in government – will end the chaos and get our health system out of last place,” said Keith Jorgenson, Saskatchewan NDP Associate Shadow Health Minister. “The Sask. Party has broken our healthcare system, and they can't be trusted to fix it.”
Saskatchewan people can offer their ideas and advice on the future of Saskatchewan healthcare at
YourCareYourSay.ca.