Sask. NDP announces plan for stressed ERs, Moe promises extended coverage for diabetes supplies

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck says she has a plan to get overstretched emergency rooms back on track if elected premier on Oct. 28.

Beck said on Wednesday that she would hire more full-time staff, extend the hours of Saskatoon City Hospital and modernize legislation to get paramedics out of waiting rooms.

Beck has also promised an online dashboard to inform the public when there are unplanned emergency room closures.

She said the health-care system is at a breaking point, with people dying waiting for care or being left in hallways.

She pointed to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, which recently violated occupational health and safety rules with patients crammed into hallways and rooms.

Beck said on the same night last week that the city's largest emergency room at Royal University Hospital was at 350 per cent capacity, an Air Canada flight bound for Saskatoon from Toronto with 122 people onboard declared an emergency.

Audio recordings posted online included air traffic control confirming ambulances were on standby at Saskatoon International Airport, she said.

"On the ground, here at the Royal University, it was pure chaos," Beck said. "No oxygen, no stretchers. Ninety people crammed into the emergency room."

Beck said the NDP was told by front-line staff that St. Paul's Hospital, the only other Saskatoon hospital with an emergency room that's open at night, was at about 200 per cent capacity.

The flight landed safely in Saskatoon without incident.

"What would've we done had the worst occurred? That is what health-care workers have been worrying about and warning us about for years. For years, health-care workers have been warning Scott Moe and the Sask Party that there is zero excess capacity should there be a mass casualty event," Beck said while standing outside St. Paul's Hospital on Wednesday.

Stephanie Fehr, a nurse at St. Paul's, spoke at Beck's campaign stop, saying "the possibility of a mass casualty event is terrifying," and that it's very risky for hospitals to operate under the current pressures.

Shortly after Beck's news conference ended, health-care workers from St. Paul's Hospital walked out to rally during lunch.

"When it comes down to it, capacity, we've been battling capacity for the longest of time and that really needs to be addressed," said Nicole Neufeld, a nurse and Saskatchewan Union of Nurses Local 101 president, at the rally.

"We understand the infrastructure isn't necessarily capable of holding how many people we have, so we need to think bigger, think larger."

Beck said the Saskatchewan Party's Scott Moe has refused to admit there's a problem and that it's time for change.

Moe pledges to extend coverage for diabetes supplies

The leader of the Saskatchewan Party said on Wednesday that he would extend coverage for insulin pumps and diabetes supplies to seniors and young adults should he be re-elected premier on Oct. 28.

Moe said his previous government followed through with a 2020 election promise to provide coverage at no cost for continuous and flash glucose monitors for children and youth under age 18.

He said coverage would be extended to young adults up to the age of 25 and seniors aged 65 and older if the Sask. Party wins government.

Moe said glucose monitoring can help improve health and quality of life.

"And it will help ease the financial burden for our young people who are just starting out life, maybe finishing school, maybe attending graduate classes or post-secondary classes, or maybe starting a job or even starting a family in a Saskatchewan community," Moe said.

About 9,000 seniors and 700 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are expected to benefit from the proposed extension of coverage.

In 2023, Diabetes Canada estimated 27 per cent of Saskatchewan's population lives with some form of diabetes.