Sask. Health Minister calls opposition hospital concerns ‘misrepresented’

When someone presents at an emergency room, the minister said that the wait now to initially see a physician is about two hours.

Cockrill speaks after the Saskatchewan NDP shared data last week that stated people in ERs across Saskatchewan are sometimes waiting days to be seen due to overcapacity at some of the province’s biggest hospitals.

In a release shared by the official Opposition, health critic Meara Conway called Saskatchewan health care “worse than it’s ever been.

“We know that the holiday season is often incredibly taxing on our hospitals. These tracking reports are jarring and I fear the worst may be yet to come,” Conway said.

Higher patient numbers are anticipated at this time of year, with flu season and colder seasonal temperatures in full swing, Cockrill said.

The Minister stated that work has been done to improve patient flow in emergency rooms in the province to ensure people are getting the care they need and the highest acuity patients are being prioritized.

“I think people can rely on that in Saskatchewan, wherever they may be,” Cockrill told Loucks.

While the minister noted that people are needed to care for people, he credited the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) for planning ahead and working to appropriately staff during the busy holiday season.

He said the numbers shared by the Saskatchewan NDP “completely misrepresented the challenges” being seen in Saskatchewan hospitals, which the provincial government is working every day to solve.

Busy ERs persist

When asked whether emergency rooms are still being utilized by patients with ailments that might be better treated elsewhere, Cockrill said higher numbers of lower acuity patients are still reporting to ERs in the province.

However, since the opening of the urgent care centre in Regina, about 60,000 patients have been seen who might not have otherwise sought care or who may have reported to an ER in the city.

“It’s doing the job in terms of pulling volume out of the emergency departments and also providing another access point to receive care,” Cockrill said of the urgent care centre.

The minister is anticipating the opening of Saskatoon’s similar urgent care facility near St. Paul’s Hospital, with the hope that through strengthening primary care and working to ensure every person in Saskatchewan has a primary care provider, ERs in the province will start to see less demand. This will also require working with patients across Saskatchewan to help people understand the appropriate place to seek care when they need it, according to Cockrill.

Cockrill said good steps have been taken this year to see more health care positions filled in the province under the Saskatchewan Party’s Health Human Resources Action Plan.

There is “still more work to do, still more positions to fill,” but Cockrill said incentives and training programs are in place and anticipates a positive start to 2026 with the progress made to bolster health care in Saskatchewan this year.

With flu season prompting more illnesses and colder weather bringing more slip-and-fall related injuries, an increase in activity at Saskatchewan hospitals is anticipated, says the provincial health minister.

He said flu vaccine uptake is similar to last year, and encouraged people in the province to seek out their annual flu shot for the best protection from the illness, stating that the SHA has plenty of availability and supply for these vaccines.

Thanking those health care workers who are putting in hours throughout the holiday season, Cockrill noted that the SHA is balancing those workers hoping to take time off during this time with properly staffing health care facilities.

Any disruptions will be posted to the SHA website to inform patients seeking care.