Regina Urgent Care Centre shortened hours on 11 of 15 weeks this year, minister admits challenges

More often than not in 2026, the Regina Urgent Care Centre has either had reduced hours or been closed at some point during the week.

For the past eight weeks, the health centre has closed early or been closed entirely for the day, and it’s seen the same story for 11 of the 15 weeks so far this year. Each time, the Saskatchewan Health Authority cited “physician availability” and told people to go to a hospital if they need medical attention while the centre is closed.

The centre will close early again on Friday, shutting its doors at 4 p.m. instead of 9:30 p.m. The health authority said it will be back to regular hours on Saturday.

Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill admitted there have been “challenges” with the centre, and said there’s still work to do to get to where the province wants to be on opening hours, saying it comes down to doctor availability and capacity.

“There’s still more work to do there in terms of really firming up what our contracts look like with the doctors providing coverage at the urgent care centre – that work is underway, and we’ll continue over the next couple of months to try and get us to a better spot,” Cockrill explained.

When the urgent care centres were announced, they were going to be open 24/7, but the provincial government backed off from that a short time after the Regina centre opened, saying it was serving its purpose.

Cockrill called the current situation around opening hours a multi-faceted challenge, saying training as many doctors as possible in Saskatchewan is a part of the solution.

“That’s why we’re adding undergraduate seats, that’s why we’ve added residency seats, and I think where you’re going to see investments being made by this government in the future in terms of really targeting, hopefully, specific training opportunities for urgent care services so that we can attract new physicians into that space,” the minister said.

But the problems with staffing in Regina don’t have Cockrill concerned about staffing up the other urgent care centres the province is planning. An urgent care centre is being built in Saskatoon and is expected to be open next year. The minister said he’s not worried because people recognize that having these centres operating is an important piece of the puzzle for health care.

“Some work to do on that with the Saskatoon physicians, but that engagement has been ongoing now for a couple of years in preparation for the opening of the Saskatoon urgent care centre,” said Cockrill. “I’m pretty confident that we’ll get to a good spot.”

New urgent care centres are also planned for Moose Jaw, North Battleford and Prince Albert, in addition to the two centres planned in Saskatoon and a second in Regina.