Meili says more support needed for rural healthcare

“We heard a pretty consistent story from healthcare workers, everywhere we met today [Nov. 25] – just levels of under-staffing, stress and burnout that are really putting people in very difficult situations,” Meili said.

He said what they are hearing is the Saskatchewan Party has not been paying enough attention to the needs of patients or the staff caring for them in rural communities.

Meili noted while there are some shortcomings due to pandemic, he said the COVID situation actually simply draws more attention to the already existing problems.

He said, as an example, he heard more people were working overtime in lab services due to insufficient staffing.

He added more patients have higher needs now, but there are fewer staff available to help them.

“Our healthcare system, in particular rural healthcare, has been so neglected by the Saskatchewan Party that COVID has just shown those problems to be what they were,” Meili said. “We’re hearing from healthcare workers who have been reluctant to speak out before. They are just beyond being able to cope anymore.”

Strategy needed

Mowat echoed Meili’s concerns and wants to see something done about it.

“We’ve been hearing consistently about these challenges with rural staffing shortages across Saskatchewan,” she said.

The Health Critic said there needs to be a human resources plan developed, to look at the bigger picture in dealing with the situation.

“The rate of burnout is increasing for healthcare workers,” she said. “We need to have concrete strategies…. It’s about getting people around the table.”

Mowat added patient care ends up suffering if there aren’t enough people to fill vacant positions.

During his visit, Ryan Meili mentioned in chatting with Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie, the issue came up about the challenges municipal leaders are facing related to COVID-19 policy. Meili said municipalities should receive clear guidance from the province which has direct access to public health experts’ advice, so the decisions do not end up being downloaded onto municipal leaders.

Staffing being addressed

From the province’s side, Battlefords MLA Jeremy Cockrill stressed the country is still in the middle of a global pandemic that impacts decision-making.

“Healthcare isn’t the only sector in this province that is trying to find more people,” he said. “As our province has dealt with this pandemic, we have obviously had to move some people around, and move some people from some healthcare services to deal with more acute situations, specifically COVID patients.”

However, Cockrill said the province is making strides to fill spots by gradually having more people return to their original postings, as they are less in need elsewhere.

“As of last Friday, I know we have had 75 per cent of those staff that were redeployed back into their home positions,” he said. “That target that we stated has been met, again 75 per cent by Nov. 19. We’re at the end of this month, so just a few days from now we should have 90 per cent of those staff back in their home positions.”

He said that effort is important as the province “ramps back up” more surgical procedures again soon.

Cockrill said the fourth wave of COVID-19 was tough on Saskatchewan, but since the province implemented a proof of vaccination or negative test result policy the active case count is down.

“We’re in a much better position than we were just even a few weeks ago,” he said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Angela Brown

Meili says more support needed for rural healthcare

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