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Hindley said “some dollars” approximately $200K has been announced toward detailing the scope of the final facility. He called it, “sort of preliminary work,” in regards to moving forward with a new health care facility.

“There’s a lot of behind the scenes work,” said Hindley.

But it is a process.

“There’s quite a lot of work that has to be done before the sod is turned,” said Hindley. “. . . There’s a lot of different stages and steps.”

Part of that work is trying to crystal ball long term regional needs based on expected economic development, what population growth or decline might look like, and age demographics, said the minister, adding each of those things can influence how many beds a facility needs to be and what services should be provided.

While Hindley has no suggestion of when the facility might get the full green light to go ahead, he assured the government “knows there is a need” for a new hospital, adding it is needed not just for the city but the region which stretches into Manitoba in terms of where people come from for services.

But, Hindley reiterated, “these things don’t happen overnight.”

Hindley also pointed out the building itself is only part of the equation with staffing needs a big part of the equation.

Beds temporarily closed at Kamsack

Certainly that has been brought into sharp focus regionally with staffing issues in Kamsack seeing 20 beds temporarily closed.

In fact, today, Official Opposition Caucus Chair and Critic for Seniors Matt Love joined concerned residents in Kamsack to demand action on the closure of all acute care beds at the Kamsack hospital. 

“This is a government that refuses to take responsibility for decisions that they’ve made,” said Love in a release. “After being in power for fifteen years, the healthcare staffing crisis is theirs and theirs alone. The hundreds of people who came to this rally are tired of excuses, they want solutions.”  

The last of the Kamsack Hospital acute care beds were closed Wednesday, and the Emergency Room will only operate from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. until Aug. 31. Patients are being redirected to neighbouring hospitals in Yorkton, Canora and Preeceville. 

The disruption in Kamsack is just the latest facility to be impacted by understaffing and recruitment and retention issues, noted a CUPE release on the Kamsack situation. 

“In recent weeks we have seen bed closures and ER shutdowns in Melville, Spiritwood, Esterhazy, and Broadview, to name a few. However, not all of these are listed on the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) website,” said Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE Local 5430 in the release. “There needs to be more transparency from the SHA about service disruptions and closures and what steps are being taken to address the situation.” 

Thursday morning Canora-Pelly MLA Terry Dennis and Everett Hindley, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Seniors, and Rural and Remote Health, toured the Kamsack facility. 

In Yorkton speaking to media, Hindley said the Kamsack situation was the result “of some recent departures of health care workers,” resulting in too few staff in some positions “to operate the beds that are actually at the hospital.” 

The situation is being regarded as temporary, assured the minister. 

“We fully intend to reopen those 20 beds,” he said. “. . . We want to see it resolved as quickly as possible.” 

But that will not happen without new staff, something he said they are working on, starting with efforts to recruit health care workers to fill the spots. 

The situation is not an isolated one, and Hindley said they are looking at ways to better keep staff at full compliments – for example looking at whether the province needs more training spots in some health disciplines. 

Hindley said it needs to be understood the shortage of health care professionals is not a rural problem, not a Saskatchewan problem. 

“It’s a national issue as well,” he assured, noting for example British Columbia has offered a $25,000 bonus to go to rural areas and still struggles to fill positions. 

The process of replacement can take months. 

In Yorkton in March of 2021, some lab work which had normally been carried out at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre was temporarily, be sent to Regina. The issue was a shortage of staff in microbiology. 

When asked, Hindley said the work has not yet been transferred back to Yorkton. 

“I don’t believe they are,” he said, adding it is still the intention to return the services to Yorkton when staff concerns are addressed. 

Hindley was also in Esterhazy July 13, touring the hospital there, noting it is “an older facility,” which he said puts it “pretty high on the list for replacement.” 

But, like the health care centre in Yorkton, there was no date for the facility replacement in Esterhazy either.