(file photo/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Hospital times

Wait times at Victoria hospital ER ‘very high safety risk’ according to leaked document

Dec 17, 2025 | 4:00 PM

Wait times at some Saskatchewan hospitals reached levels high enough to be considered a very high safety risk, including Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert, the NDP announced in a news release today.

A memo leaked to the provincial NDP and shared to media shows the longest patient wait time was 41 hours with 44 patients waiting in the emergency department.

Available medical beds were –12 and there was no free ICU bed, putting the hospital at almost 117 per cent capacity. According to the NDP, the wait times are impacting patients and hospital staff.

“This is shocking and the Sask. Party is nowhere to be found,” said Jared Clarke, Saskatchewan NDP rural and remote health shadow minister. “We know the Christmas season will put even more strain on hospitals — and Scott Moe and his health minister refuse to lift a finger with patients and frontline workers in Prince Albert suffer.”

The report covers three days of wait times and assesses the safety risk at every hospital in the province. Victoria Hospital was classified “very high safety risk” for three days running.

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In response, the SHA said that reports need to be considered in context and stressed patients are assessed much quicker than the time indicated on the list.

“Interpreting internal documents which are used regularly by health system experts to inform decision making outside of their intended context should be done with caution. Wait times included in the report referenced measure the time from patient registration to discharge from the emergency department. These wait times do NOT represent the time patients wait to be assessed by a physician,” said Derek Miller, chief operating officer of the SHA in an e-mailed statement.

Miller said emergency rooms and acute care capacity are monitored in real-time in order to make decisions on care.

“This monitoring includes overall hospital occupancy, patients identified for admission and those being monitored in emergency departments. A scoring system is used to assess levels of risk and to guide appropriate actions at different thresholds,” he said.

Having patients get care as close to home as possible is a priority, Miller said.

The longest wait times were further south.

· Regina General: 91 hours

· Royal University: 86 hours

· Dr. F.H. Wigmore: 73 hours

· St. Paul’s: 61 hours

· Pasqua: 42 hours

· Victoria: 41 hours

“Ninety-one hours for medical care is absolutely shocking,” said Meara Conway, Saskatchewan NDP health shadow minister. “I can’t imagine the pain, agony and frustration for people in those waiting rooms.

A recent incident at the Victoria Hospital has not been connected to wait times.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social