MEMO ISSUED OCT. 29 PROVES SASK. PARTY LYING ABOUT DANGEROUS RURAL EMERGENCY ROOM POLICY

Carla Beck Calls On Scott Moe To Make Health Minister Do His Job Or Remove Him

REGINA – The Saskatchewan NDP is releasing an Oct. 29 memo that lays bare the dangerous new staffing policy imposed by the Sask. Party on rural emergency rooms in the province — a memo that makes it clear the Health Minister has been lying for a week.

The memo, issued to hospitals provincewide, makes it clear on Page 3 that an emergency room will be forced to stay open if just a single registered nurse remains onsite. That nurse would be responsible for direct patient care of multiple people, testing, consulting physicians online and running other parts of a hospital, such as long-term care.

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Frontline workers have decried the new policy and say they weren’t consulted.

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“The Sask. Party would rather create the illusion they’re fixing healthcare instead of actually fixing healthcare,” said Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck. “This is a dangerous political game and it’s going to get someone killed.

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“The Sask. Party Minister of Health clearly has lost all sense of right and wrong. I ask Premier Scott Moe, is this your vision for healthcare in our province? If it is, we’re in real trouble.

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“If it’s not, either force your Health Minister to do his damn job or remove him today.”

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Sask. Party Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill has repeated lies that no such “work order” was issued and that the policies for keeping emergency rooms open have been in place for 14 years; however, even the Minister’s own officials with the Saskatchewan Health Authority have admitted to the new measures to “standardize” emergency room practices provincewide.

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The work order was issued just before a new policy was put in place requiring public daily reporting of active emergency room closures.

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“The Health Minister is trying to cover up his own failures by forcing emergency rooms to stay open,” said Jared Clarke, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Rural & Remote Health. “We exposed the cover up, so then the Minister resorted to lying.

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“I wonder what he will do next to save his job? Clearly he stopped caring about fixing the healthcare mess the Sask. Party created a long time ago.

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Beck added, “Saskatchewan, we don’t have to settle for this. We can get back to doing what we do best — leading Canada in healthcare.

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“We’re the birthplace of Medicare and it’s time for big, bold change to deliver the care you and your loved ones deserve. That’s the future I want for all of us.”

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The Saskatchewan NDP is consulting on healthcare policy — everyone is welcome to provide input at YourCareYourSay.ca.

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