To the Editor:
I am disappointed and concerned about the government's dismissive approach to problems in Emergency Rooms and hospitals in our province.
The problems have now reached our capital city, with the Pasqua Hospital emergency room forced to close at night. However, dozens of communities around the province have already experienced shortened emergency room hours or suspended hospital services.
Throughout the province, I have heard families, patients and health care professionals raise concerns about understaffed and overcrowded hospitals. Every health-care worker and patient knows that nearly every shift in nearly every facility is trying to operate without enough staff to provide the care our loved ones deserve.
Recruitment and retention of doctors is a problem - but we also see overcrowded clinics with long wait times; a shortage of family doctors; a lack of treatment options for chronic diseases like diabetes, addictions and mental health; and a shortage of seniors care beds. These problems have people with nowhere else to go so they turn to the ER.
It seems this government may not have been ready for the growth in Saskatchewan - but it's time the government stopped making excuses and looking backward. Despite years of a strong economy, health care is getting worse in Saskatchewan, and that has to stop.
Danielle Chartier, NDP health critic.
