Carla Beck, newly chosen head of the NDP, says the province needs to do more to solve staff shortages leading to bed closures at the Shellbrook hospital (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Healthy communities

NDP says government refusing to act on Shellbrook hospital issues

Jun 30, 2022 | 5:01 PM

The provincial opposition says the government is not acting on staff suggestions to help resolve shortages at the Shellbrook Hospital.

The building has had 10 acute care beds closed over the last month because of a lack of staff. NDP leader Carla Beck stood outside the hospital Friday as part of a media conference.

“They have said the tools are available from the provincial government but we’re not seeing them acting on that,” Beck said.

Beck explained the shortages extend across the spectrum from doctors to nurses and lab tech, adding one of the things the province is doing is posting temporary jobs, which makes it difficult to recruit if it involves moving for only one year.

She also claimed working conditions are poor and have caused many staff to leave health care work altogether. Thirdly, Beck noted health care workers have a high injury rate and if that is accompanied by having to work under-staffed and on days off, it leads to burnout.

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“The other thing we hear cited very often and we’ve seen this in very high-profile ways from physicians leaving the province is this sense of not being listened to, not being respected,” she stated.

Beck said that 10 beds were closed on May 20 and have remained closed.

Beck was joined by healthcare workers and concerned community members at Friday’s press conference. (Submitted/ Sask. NDP)

Patty Couture, the Primary Care Director at the Shellbrook Hospital, says that while 10 beds were closed for a period of time, at least five will re-open on July 4.

The reductions were caused by a shortage of staff, including nurses and the departure of a doctor in Spiritwood.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) allowed some beds to stay empty in order to accommodate summer holidays and to catch up on training.

“We determined that going down to 10 beds for June would support some vacation time away for our regular full-time employees,” she said.

As a temporary measure, the SHA used aides from continuing care to work in acute care, which will revert to normal once empty positions have been filled, Couture explained.

All the bed closures were done by just not filling them again when patients were discharged.

“We did not move patients out, we did it through attrition actually, so we got down to the 10 as people were being discharged,” Couture said.

Director of Acute Care in Spiritwood, Faith Nash, says they are experiencing similar staff shortages and that while one doctor left in April, another will be taking their place at the end of July.

The facility in Spiritwood is a Collaborative Care building and is open every day of the week from eight am to eight pm.

A list of dates that there will be no doctor or registered nurse on staff has been shared, Nash says. (July 8, 10, 11 12 17 and 21).

Sharon Paul, the region’s General Vice President for CUPE, was also at Friday’s press conference with Beck and pointed out that the Shellbrook hospital serves communities in a 100 km radius.

The problems are bigger than the province is letting on, she explained and having less beds in the community puts an undue hardship on the elderly who are moved away from their family and support systems.

“We are in the midst of a recruitment and retention crisis in Saskatchewan and unless steps are taken to improve working conditions in health care, I’m afraid for the future of care in Shellbrook,” Paul explained.

As far as Beck is concerned, the SHA has not communicated the closures like it normally does and this is also a problem.

“Your postal code should not dictate whether or not you can access health care, and this is not a new problem,” she said.

She also noted that health care workers are leaving daily for other provinces saying they do not like how they’ve been treated by the province. For her, the ultimate failure is the province not having a recruitment and retention strategy in place.

“Instead of burying our heads in the sand, hiding bed closures and dismissing concerns, we need to be proactive. It’s time we started working with health care workers, not against them,” Beck said.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

With files from Nigel Maxwell.