Prairie North Health Region is facing potential job action by its employees who are members of the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (HSAS).
Friday, HSAS formally issued 48-hours strike notice to the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO). Job action began Monday in Prince Albert Parkland Health Region, where 60 specialized health care workers were off the job.
Prairie North Health Region has plans in place to manage through withdrawal of services by HSAS members under the province's essential services legislation.
"Our priority is to ensure the safety of our patients, residents and clients through any interruption in services," said Irene Denis, vice-president of Corporate Services for PNHR.
"At this time, we do not know specifically what job action by HSAS might look like in terms of time, location, staff and programs affected," she added. "We do anticipate some disruption in some services and programming, and will do our best to keep our clients and the public informed as the situation unfolds."
HSAS represents approximately 220 employees in PNHR including ambulance personnel, hospital pharmacists, occupational and physical therapists, respiratory therapists, mental health therapists, recreation therapists, addictions counsellors, home care assessors and discharge planners, social workers, public health inspectors, population health service professionals, early childhood psychologists, speech and language pathologists and others.
