NDP MLA hopeful Nicole Rancourt stands with party leader Carla Beck outside of the Victoria Hospital on August 29. (Susan McNeil/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Mental Health crisis

P.A. child psych. beds closed again: leaked memo shows

Aug 29, 2023 | 4:00 PM

A leaked memo obtained by the Saskatchewan NDP shows that two beds available for child psychiatric patients in Prince Albert were closed again 13 days ago without public notice.

Leader Carla Beck and Nicole Rancourt, who will run to represent Prince Albert – Northcote next year, spoke about the issue at a media conference on Aug. 29.

“The Sask. Party has quietly closed the Prince Albert Child and Youth Psychiatric Unit,” said Beck. “This means that the whole of northern Saskatchewan is without youth mental health beds.”

The 10 beds in the Victoria Hospital were closed in August 2022 after the sole psychiatrist left his practice a year and a half after starting. Two psychiatrists are needed to make sure that patients can get care and the staff don’t burn out.

“This is the third time this has happened in the last three years, and we know this only because of a leaked internal SHA memo,” said Beck.

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A psychiatrist who began a practice in 2021, said he was overworked and could not handle the load anymore, leading to his departure.

Those beds are one-third of all the youth psychiatric beds in Saskatchewan, with 10 more each in Regina and Saskatoon.

With patients that would normally be seen in Prince Albert now diverting to the province’s other major centres, those services are also over-stretched.

Beck said that the province is not keeping its promises to recruit the staff needed to keep the health care system working properly.

“People have had enough with excuses,” she said. “They want a government that is prepared to do the work and get the job done.”

There has been a part-time youth psychiatrist working in the hospital, which allowed two of the beds to re-open. But, according to the leaked memo, those two beds stopped accepting patients Aug. 16.

After the NDP made its announcement about the leaked memo, the Ministry of Health released a statement saying that the new Saskatchewan Healthcare Recruitment Agency has been actively recruiting across Canada and internationally.

“To assist with recruitment, we have put in place a $200,000 recruitment incentive. We have also provided additional funding for the SHA to implement a team-based model of care that will enhance service and support for child and youth patients and make Prince Albert more competitive for recruiting child and youth psychiatrist,” the statement reads.

It goes on to say that recruiting two full-time psychiatrists in Prince Albert remains a top priority.

Rancourt said that things have gotten worse since she left her job as a clinical social worker for the government in the Mental Health Outpatient Centre in 2016 after running for office.

The office had six adult psychiatrists and two dedicated to youth, which even then was not enough

“Mental health issues and addictions have reached a crisis point Prince Albert and people just don’t feel the government is doing enough to support them,” she stated.

By the end of August, there will be only one adult psychiatrist left in Prince Albert and none for youth.

According to both Beck and Rancourt, the issue does not lie solely with failing to recruit new staff, more needs to be done to help existing staff.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many health care staff are stressed and burned out, with a significant amount opting to retire early rather than continue working.

READ MORE:

Suicide rate in northern girls 26 times higher, a part of psychiatric crisis

SHA announces partial re-opening of Victoria Hospital in-patient youth psychiatric unit

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com