REGINA - Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill pushed back against some allegations being hurled at the government over conditions at the neonatal intensive care unit at Regina General Hospital.
At a news conference Tuesday morning, the opposition NDP had pointed to concerns raised by Saskatchewan Union of Nurses about a shortage of ventilators as well as of newborns being sent to hospitals in North Dakota. That latter concern was raised by Tracy Zambory, president of SUN, in a news story run by Global News on Monday.
On Tuesday afternoon, Cockrill stood alongside Derek Miller, Chief Operating Officer of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, and Dr. Terry Klassen, Provincial Head of Pediatrics, and told reporters that “despite what we're hearing from the SUN and the nurses, is that there aren't any ventilator problems and no patients have been sent out of the province at all from the NICU.”
Cockrill said it was his understanding there were “16 machines that are NICU and RGH that can be used as ventilators. Eight are ventilator specific and then eight others have dual purpose.
“Again, as of the information that I had this morning, eight or nine units are in use, so that means we have seven or eight units available.”
As for sending patients out of province, Cockrill acknowledged there has been a surge of usage at the NICU at Regina General over the last couple of weeks. More premature babies born, more multiple births, including twins, so that does put pressure on NICU beds.
“Nobody has been sent out of province due to capacity issues over the last several weeks,” Cockrill said.
“I see the opposition members in the NDP and even the NDP leader, Carla Beck, putting out that kids are being sent to North Dakota. That is inaccurate information. It's irresponsible to spread that information.”
Cockrill said expectant mothers in southern Saskatchewan “can expect that despite capacity challenges, we have qualified healthcare workers at the General, at our other facilities across the province that are ready to care for them and their newborn babies.”
He did acknowledge some pediatric patients might be moved to other facilities in the province such as Jim Pattison Children's Hospital.
“That's our highest level of care facility for pediatric patients in the province. Or Prince Albert Victoria Hospital. I understand that we had a patient just this week being moved to PA Vic. That may happen, say, (when) we're trying to get a family closer to where they live or closer to where they have family supports. Again, this is why our teams within the Saskatchewan Health Authority meet and huddle every morning to understand where the capacity pressures are, who we have in our wards, and how we make sure that everybody's getting the best level of care.”
Cockrill also said he had previously toured Regina General and met with those that work in the unit in Regina. Cockrill also said he had been meeting with the Saskatchewan Health Authority executive leadership team that morning.
“We know there's challenges. There's challenges in many different facilities. That's exactly why we have a very ambitious Health Human Resources Action Plan to address recruitment challenges, make sure that positions can be filled.”
Cockrill's response came after Opposition Ethics and Democracy critic Meara Conway’s had attempted an emergency motion Tuesday afternoon in the Assembly, which would have called for action on the crisis in NICU as well as daily reporting. But that motion was refused unanimous consent by the government to get to the floor.
When speaking to reporters afterwards Conway was critical about that turn of events, accusing Cockrill of “not being transparent” on what was going on in the NICU.
“The only reason we know about this crisis is because a frontline nurse came forward, we know about it from a leak,” said Conway.
She also pointed to 44 complaints out of this NICU this year, and three separate work reports “backing up the idea that there’s a shortage of staff and a shortage of ventilators.”
Conway blasted the lack of information from the government.
“Is it ideal that the opposition has to learn about a crisis in NICU through leaks from frontline health care workers, through Global News reports? No, it is not ideal, and that’s is precisely why we brought this motion — so we could see some transparency from this government and so we can take stock of the situation.”
Conway also emphasized the information she shared at her news conference Tuesday about newborns being transferred to North Dakota was in response to the Global News report.
“We talked about it in our press conference today. I was asked about it and said we’re following up, we’re asking our own questions of frontline healthcare workers. I think the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses was also clear they are also following up on that information. Again, we are operating in a vacuum of information. We need a Minister of Health that is transparent.”
