SHA working on staffing plan for Regina Urgent Care Centre

While construction continues on Regina’s Urgent Care Centre, work is also continuing to find staff for the facility.

Derek Miller, the chief operating officer of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said Wednesday the organization is still working on a staffing plan for the facility on Albert Street. The SHA also is consulting with the Ministry of Health on the budget for that staffing plan.

Nurses have been raising concerns for some time about understaffing at the province’s hospitals, so Miller was asked if the SHA has concerns about finding staff for the Urgent Care Centre.

“We do acknowledge that the broader situation and some of our staffing shortages may impact us, but we do believe this is going to be a great opportunity for staff to work in an interdisciplinary environment and provide an important service,” Miller said.

“We look forward to fully staffing it and opening it on time next year.”

The plan to build Urgent Care Centres in Regina and Saskatoon was announced in September of 2020, with hopes of easing the burden on hospital emergency rooms.

The centres are to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide things like stitches and casts, as well as treatment for infections, rashes, flu symptoms and asthma. There also are to be on-site diagnostic imaging, pharmacy and lab services, as well as help for mental health and addictions needs.

Ministry of Health officials are aware that more staff is required in facilities around the province, and have launched the Health Human Resources Action Plan in response. However, health-care professionals have said more needs to be done sooner.

As further proof of that, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Tracy Zambory told The Evan Bray Show on Wednesday that the emergency room at the Regina General Hospital recently went on bypass for five hours.

“Can you imagine? The Regina General Hospital emergency (room) you can’t get into because there’s far too many people in it — and this is happening across the province,” Zambory said.

She noted some rural facilities have had to go on bypass for a variety of issues, including a shortage of staff.

“Bypass means you can’t stop there,” she said. “You can’t get care in the emergency room because there isn’t enough registered nurses or other health-care professionals. There aren’t any there to provide that care …

“What that means is those people then have no health care where they are and then they have to find themselves somewhere else, which is turning into Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Yorkton (or) Swift Current (which) are finding themselves completely overwhelmed because there isn’t the staff, the resources or the room for people to be there.”

As for the Urgent Care Centre in Regina, Miller said the SHA will follow the collective bargaining agreements with unions to staff the positions.

“They will be posted and interested staff – existing staff or external staff or out-of-province staff, wherever they may come from — would apply for them and then we would follow our existing processes to hire and on-board them,” Miller said.

During a tour of the facility Tuesday, SHA CEO Andrew Will said the care centre will have around 120 full-time employees.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Nicole Garn