Regina General Hospital down 1 intensive care bed due to staffing issues

The Regina General Hospital is shutting down one of its intensive care beds for the next two months due to a lack of staffing, an internal Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) memo reveals.

The memo was obtained by the Opposition NDP, which shared it with the media on Wednesday.

Steven Klotz, the SHA's director of critical care in Regina, sent the memo to senior leaders on June 28.  

"Despite a number of recruitment strategies, we are finding significant staffing challenges in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at the Regina General Hospital," Klotz wrote. "Due to multiple vacancies, staffing these beds over the last number of months has relied heavily upon contract services.

"Unfortunately, there has been a number of contracts cancelled at the last minute and we are unable to find replacements until late summer."

Klotz said one intensive care bed will be closed from June 30 to Sept. 5.

Opposition Leader Carla Beck and health critic Vicki Mowat met with the media down the street from the hospital on Wednesday morning.

"It's clear that the recruitment strategy is not working and it's health-care workers like we see behind us today, and those looking for care, it's those people who are paying the price," Beck said.

"We need to be working with our health-care workers on retention strategies while promoting some of our underutilized staff, like our part-time and casual health-care workers, into full-time positions to reduce the strain on the system," Mowat said.

Mowat said the government has relied too heavily on contract nurses and this is an example of the model failing.

"It's also creating discontent within the health-care workers themselves, because they know that folks who are on contract are making upwards of 30 per cent more than they are and doing the exact same work on the ground with them as a full-time employee."

"So it's divisive, it's not working, it's not a long-term solution."

Ministry says current intensive care capacity is 78 per cent 

The Ministry of Health sent a statement to CBC in response to the memo and the Opposition's news conference.

It said seven of nine medicine ICU beds are currently occupied at the Regina General Hospital.

"This is an average occupancy rate for this unit and it is anticipated that the closure of one bed will not impact patient care," the statement said.

It said the Saskatchewan Health Authority uses contracted staff to fill "prolonged vacancies." 

"When these services are not available, service disruption measures or alternative care measures/delivery may be necessary to ensure patient safety."

The ministry said that since last December, the SHA has hired nearly 490 grad nurses. 

"We are retaining former casual or part-time SHA employees through the creation of 250 new full-time permanent positions across Saskatchewan. To date, almost 160 of these positions have been filled."

The ministry said it will shorten licensing time frames for internationally educated nurses in August from months to 14 weeks. It said the SHA has already recruited 400 registered nurses from the Philippines.