2 hospitals in Saskatoon faced with influx of patients they cannot house

Royal University Hospital (RUH) and St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon needed around 40 combined beds for patients this past weekend that they did not have.

In a letter to all Saskatoon physicians, Dr. Grant Stonehamasked doctors to re-evaluate current admissions to see if any could be discharged to make room for new patients.

Nineteen admissions were pending at St. Paul's and 20 were pending at RUH. In the letter, Stoneham called the prospect "very concerning."

According to a statement from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), "This [situation]triggered a notification going out to all area physicians to double-check and ensure any possible discharges had been completed ...in order to ensure new admissions could occur," it said.

"This is a regular process that occurs in similar situations where capacity is challenged."

It is unclear what exactly happened to those patients. The SHA said they are working through their regular processes to handle the influx.

"Patient flow is a complex matter, which includes issues surrounding discharges, ability to transfer patients back to their 'home' health region hospitals (repatriation) closer to their place of residence, alternate level of care options, etc.," the SHA statement goes on to say.

Premier Scott Moe spoke brieflyon hospitalizations in general on Monday morning at an unrelated news conference, saying the province's hospitalizations have increased, but have increased less than the rest of Canada.

"What we are doing in Saskatchewan relative to the rest of Canada does seem to be effective. And that's due to, I think in many ways, us having faith in the people of the province, making the right decisions and providing them with the tools that are effective against this new variant," he said.

Hospitalizations were up by five in Saskatchewan on Monday, for a total of 167 people in hospital, 13 of whom are in ICU.

Moe said Quebec has been the province that has imposed the most strict public health measures, but are currently facing a far more perilous situation in terms ofhospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths.

"We know that COVID isn't the sole cause of these pressures, but the pandemic has certainly brought to light many of the challenges that exist within the healthcare system," Vicki Mowat, NDP MLA and Health critic, said Monday.

"We know that our ability to surge is quite limited and we haven't even seen hospitalization effects of the fifth wave yet."