non-critical and elective services as it seeks to expand its ability to care for COVID-positive patients. According to the SHA, it will continue services for mental health, addiction, and early childhood immunizations. On the other hand, other procedures and surgeries may be delayed or rescheduled and patients will be notified of the changes in services.
Scott Livingstone, SHA president and CEO, spoke about the current Covid situation in the hospital. He said, “Saskatchewan residents depend on our services, so slowing down some services is not an easy choice. But we are challenged to meet the growing COVID demand while facing an increasing shortage of dedicated and highly skilled health-care professionals.”
The SHA will also transfer some patients from hospitals close to their homes to other institutions around the province, which will benefit the hardest-hit communities. These kinds of initiatives pave the way for the healthcare system to better care for the patients in critical conditions. According to Dr. Alex Wong, an infectious disease specialist, the modifications only go so far. He said, “We don’t have a lot of additional capacity. And our capacity to create additional surge beds — and, more importantly, staff those beds — is really, really limited.”
Wong claims that the province’s healthcare system is already under pressure and struggling as a result of the growing counts of COVID-19 cases, with numerous hospitals on standby and unable to accept new patients. He believes that greater actions at the provincial level are required before the issue spreads to hospitals. Wong said, “It’s very clear where this is all headed. In the end, if we do not have critical-care capacity, ICU capacity or even hospital capacity, then that means that we are not going to be able to offer the high-quality service that everyone deserves.”
