Alec Salloum
Regina Leader-Post
Virtual care has been used as a means to keep emergency rooms open across Saskatchewan but, even with remote doctors, there have been almost 1,000 recorded service disruptions so far in 2025.
According to the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), a total of 984 ER disruptions were documented from Jan. 1 to July 17 of this year, with each one lasting anywhere from under 24 hours to more than seven days.
Greater specificity on the nature of these disruptions was not available by print deadline.
Across rural Saskatchewan, there are 28 emergency rooms currently utilizing a virtual physician program. That means patients who seek treatment in some parts of the province may end up seeing a doctor virtually instead of being together in a room.
The SHA’s virtual physician program launched two years ago in Porcupine Plain as part of an overall plan focused on stabilizing emergency services in the community, according to a press release at the time.
The initial launch expanded to five rural ERs and has now reached 28.
Dr. Johann Roodt, the SHA’s physician executive for integrated rural health, said Wednesday that the program is a way to try and maintain services in communities while the province works to recruit and retain doctors in rural settings.
He explained that when there’s a physician vacancy, the SHA will put out a provincewide call for an in-person locum — a temporary stand-in — to try and fill the void. If that is unsuccessful, the virtual physician program is relied upon.
“It is a temporary solution while we are recruiting for family physicians in rural and remote locations throughout the province,” said Dr. Roodt. “When you have no locum, the only way to ensure that we have physician services is if we connect, through technology, that local team in that local community to a physician with expertise in emergency medicine.”
Dr. Roodt added that while the doctor visit is done remotely, a registered nurse (RN) or a licensed practical nurse (LPN) is present through the experience. The nurse will triage a patient who comes into the ER before they’re connected with a doctor through online methods.
Meanwhile, when asked about gaps in communicating rural closures, Dr. Roodt said service disruptions lasting longer than seven days are posted on the SHA website.
NDP critic Keith Jorgenson suggested last week that the province should send out notifications through SaskAlerts to inform communities of closures. This suggestion came in part from concerns raised over the town of Maple Creek being the authority that advises citizens when there are disruptions at the Southwest Integrated Healthcare Facility.
“We want the government to immediately communicate what facilities are open, what facilities are closed, which facilities have doctors and which do not,” Jorgenson said.
Last week, the Government of Saskatchewan announced further efforts to stabilize rural health care, adding 77 new full-time positions to target 30 rural communities.
The positions “will focus on communities that continue to experience service disruptions or have faced ongoing staffing challenges,” according to a news release, which adds that the new positions include RNs, registered psychiatric nurses, LPNs, combined lab and X-ray technicians, medical radiation technologists and phlebotomists.
“The SHA has closely scrutinized their costs and identified savings that will help fund these essential positions and provide positive care to patients in communities stretching across the province,” said Minister of Health Jeremy Cockrill.
In June, the SHA announced it was eliminating 26 senior out-of-scope leadership positions, saving $10.4 million.
Meara Conway, NDP critic for rural and remote health, acknowledged Monday that converting some positions to full-time roles is a positive step, though she felt the announcement missed the mark.
“I think it’s also really disappointing,” said Conway. “The big announcement in health care is just to announce 70 new positions when they know full well that they have hundreds of positions they can’t fill.”
