SASKATOON – Saskatchewan Health Authority have announced their plans to address the urgent overcrowding situation in Saskatoon’s hospitals.

SHA officials including Andrew Will, CEO and John Ash, Vice President Integrated Saskatoon Health, are addressing the report titled the Saskatoon Capacity Pressure Action Plan at a news conference underway now at City Hospital in Saskatoon on Tuesday.

The report released Tuesday by the SHA outlines actions in the next 30 and 90 days, and then in the coming three to six months to address the overcrowding. This is in addition to actions already under way by SHA. 

This report comes just after a letter signed by over 100 emergency staff was sent to SHA demanding they address overcrowding and unsafe conditions at St. Paul’s Hospital. That situation has resulted in fire code violations at the hospital last week.

“We acknowledge that current hospital capacity pressures create a difficult environment for patients who are seeking care in our emergency departments, and for staff and paramedics who have continued to provide excellent care,” said Will in a statement. “With the release of this action plan, the SHA is committed to taking concrete action to address the immediate capacity pressures facing staff and patients, while also implementing long-term solutions to strengthen health services in Saskatoon.”

What follows here, directly from the words in the report itself, is an outline of the actions being announced Tuesday.

Current actions

Actions under way now to address the situation include the following:

The addition of 32 transitional beds added by the end of November to facilitate discharge and care transitions for patients from acute care to appropriate care settings.

Deployment of primary health care staff to support the Emergency Department and inpatient units to identify patients that could be cared for at home or in community to avoid admission to hospital.

Additional staffing is underway to support 43 additional beds at Royal University Hospital, including 21 temporary inpatient beds, 22 temporary flex beds and EMS transition beds.

30 days

The immediate action SHA is taking to address capacity pressures in Saskatoon over the next 30 days includes the following:

Temporary deployment of staff to acute care units to coordinate discharge of patients from acute care to appropriate care settings.

Enhancing weekend staffing in Saskatoon facilities to ensure weekend patient discharge and care transitions, in alignment with standard discharge practices during the week.

Increasing adherence to existing Overcapacity Protocols and line of site for senior leadership to transition patients out of the Emergency Department to appropriate care environments and appropriate receiving facilities to reduce pressures on tertiary care.

Enhance the Community IV Therapy Program to avoid emergency department presentations and more appropriately serve patients in community.

Add temporary Emergency Department staffing, including nursing, social work, support workers and security personnel to improve patient and staff safety while longer term actions are underway.

90 days

Actions over the next 90 days include the following: 

Procurement of additional community-based long term and convalescent care beds to enable patient discharge and care transitions from hospital to appropriate care settings.

Increase of home care and palliative care community resources to prevent Emergency Department presentations and support decreased inpatient admissions and length of stay.

Opening an additional three ICU beds at Royal University Hospital to ensure capacity for those patients requiring Critical Care services.

Three to six months

Actions and longer term changes to be implemented in the next three to six months include:

Implementing rapid access for unattached patients to primary care through Nurse Practitioner and Primary Care physicians in the community to avoid Emergency Department presentations and admission to hospital.

Developing community-based programming specific to common Emergency Department presentations to better serve patients in community, keep patients healthy at home, and prevent acute care admissions.

Implementing more robust home health monitoring in Saskatoon for falls prevention and chronic disease management to prevent Emergency Department presentations.

Completing an inpatient bed and long-term care needs assessment for Saskatoon facilities to determine appropriate numbers and mix of acute care and long-term care beds required to meet the current and projected needs of the community.

Improving access to information between acute and community services to enable seamless patient flow and care planning across care settings and better transition patients home. This includes augmented WIFI capability within Saskatoon facilities to ensure staff can easily access and share patient information across care providers.

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