Saskatchewan increasing reporting of emergency room closures to twice daily

The province won’t proceed with real-time updates on rural ER closures after previously tentatively approving the NDP proposal. Wayne Mantyka reports.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) will be doubling the number of updates it provides on emergency service disruptions.

According to the province, service disruptions will be posted on the SHA website twice a day at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. or as soon as practically possible.

The health authority has been providing one update per day at 4 p.m. The changes are set to go into effect on May 19.

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Speaking to reporters at the legislature Thursday morning, Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill described the improvement as in keeping with the province’s “Patients First Health Care Plan.”

When asked why the practice hasn’t already been made standard, Cockrill said its taken time to get a consistent reporting structure in place across the SHA, which is made up of 12 former health regions.

“As we’ve achieved that consistency, now we can work on increasing the frequency and availability of that information for patients,” he explained, adding the province will be working towards getting the system to update as close to real-time as possible.

The Official Opposition criticized the measure for not going for enough - wanting instead for the province to immediately begin providing real-time updates on disruptions and closures.

NDP MLA Jared Clarke said this was the basis for him to introduce Bill 606: The Provincial Health Authority (ER Closure Right-to-Know) Amendment Act last fall.

However, Clarke’s private member’s bill was defeated on Thursday.

“This is the least transparent government in Saskatchewan history,” he said.

Clarke also noted the timing of the province’s increased reporting announcement came as Bill 606 was scheduled for its third reading, but Cockrill denied that the announcement had anything to do with Clarke’s bill.

“They have this information in the SHA. They know when a hospital is open or closed in real time. I have a hard time believing that we can know where a snowplow is on a Saskatchewan highway in this moment, but we can’t know whether the ER in a community is open or closed," Clarke added.

The SHA’s disruption webpage can be found here.