Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
After videos surfaced and went viral on Facebook of “hallway medicine” being carried out at the Royal University Hospital Emergency Department, the SHA’s explanation left front-line workers enraged.
The videos showed patients lining the hallways in beds outside the emergency room at Royal University Hospital. Welcome to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, the caption read on one video posted Sept. 25. “How is this an acceptable level of care?”
In a conference call with reporters soon after the media picked up the story, John Ash, the vice-president of Integrated Saskatoon Health for Saskatchewan Health Authority, acknowledged there were capacity pressures at Royal University Hospital.
“Certainly, myself personally and the rest of the SHA were very much aware of recent capacity increases we had at Royal University Hospital last week,” Ash told reporters.
He said there were a number of reasons for the “heightened volume” in the emergency department at RUH. “A compacting factor was certainly the early presence of some of our seasonal flu, but that was one of many reasons going forward.”
SUN members at the Royal University Hospital Emergency Department again contacted their union with escalating fears for patients and emphasized their frustration at being ignored for far too long. It’s NOT SAFE in the emergency department, SUN members declare, and it’s NOT just seasonal.
“I was disappointed to read Vice-President of Integrated Saskatoon Health, Saskatchewan Health Authority, John Ash’s comments on the situation, blaming the hallway beds on “surge Times’ and “the flu season”. That is a blatant lie. Hallway beds are not due to a “surge”; they are now routine. The fact of the matter is that hallway beds are so routine, they are even named: “E pod” and “F pod”. The SHA executives and Sask Party told the public and staff that “E pod” was due to surge, and would not last for long… now we have F pod. What next? Are we going all the way to Z?” a SUN member wrote to the Union.
And it is not just in the cities where SUN members are sounding the alarm. Rural health care is in trouble also, and a few emails from Rosthern and Tisdale, shared by SUN, describe the concerns there.
The situation has become overwhelming, and burnout is leading many to consider a new path: “Multiple staff members have talked about quitting and looking for jobs elsewhere.”
Harvest season presents the highest risk for farming injuries and fatalities in Saskatchewan due to increased fatigue, stress, and machinery-related incidents. Our rural facilities are a crucial, life-saving resource, but they are struggling to stay afloat because of short-staffing.
“Nurses are walking away not because they don’t care, but because they have nothing left to give.”
Adding insult to injury, in response to criticism about the abhorrent state of healthcare in Saskatoon, the SHA told reporters that an additional 109 beds were being brought on to increase overall capacity, with 20 now operational. These are not new beds, according to nurses working in City Hospital and shared on social media by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses.
“The ‘new’ beds are going in the Transitional Care Unit, Convalescent Unit, and Rehab Unit spaces. Several beds were CLOSED to allow for renovations to take place, and only 20 have been reopened. These were all supposed to be open in August 2025, and now they are saying it will be “months’ before the closed beds will be reopened.”
“SHA proudly announced 40 new Transitional Care beds in 2024. These beds were not “new” – they have been filled with patients for the last 5 years and were finally separated into a permanent ward instead of being overcapacity beds. Nothing changed except a budget label. Nurses are being gaslit by leadership.” – RN, Saskatoon
There are solutions to the registered nurse staffing crisis that SUN has shared with leaders that goes beyond recruitment. Incentives to retain experienced nurses are crucial, opportunities for RNs to become NPs & all nurses to advance their practice in the rural communities where they live, maximizing the full scope of NPs to improve access to care, mentorship, training and support for newer nurses to rural communities, ensuring Saskatchewan is a competitive place for registered nurses to choose to stay and practice, and, of course, stand up the promised nursing to task force and ensure it has the financial resources to get things done.
A survey conducted by SUN showed that 53 per cent of nurses have considered quitting their job within the last year. It also shows that 82 percent said yes to patients being put at risk due to short staffing.
“I’d like the [health authority] to stop gaslighting our members and the front-line nurses,” Bryce Boynton, the president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, said. “I’d like them to acknowledge the expertise we have at the front lines, acknowledge what they’re saying and work with them to overcome these issues.”
“When is enough, enough?” was the phrase being used by Saskatoon emergency room nurses during a union meeting in December 2024, and nearly a year later, arguably, the sentiment is still the same.
