Premier Scott Moe is defending his government's record on health one day after the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses complained about a bed shortage in a Saskatoon hospital.SUNnurses reported on Twitter ("X") on Tuesday that the emergency room of St. Paul's Hospital had 41 patients without a regular bed, forcing them into ambulatory care beds, hallway beds, or treatment in the waiting room..Official Opposition Health Critic Vicki Mowat shared the testimony of a healthcare whistleblower who said a patient had been stuck in the emergency room for more than 141 hours. A photo of emergency room time was provided to media with patients' names redacted..Moe addressed questions on health care and other issues at a media event at the Regina General Hospital. He said the Saskatchewan Health Authority "has deployed some of the resources that they have to address some of the pressures that have arrived there in the last number of days" but medium-term solutions will soon follow.The premier said the Urgent Care Centre set up in Regina has already been used by 6,000 patients in the past two months, relieving pressure on hospital emergency rooms. He expected a similar facility soon to be launched in Saskatoon would have a similar effect."We're starting to see some stabilization in our emergency rooms here in our capital city, and we look to the very same stabilization in the community of Saskatoon as soon as we're able to get that infrastructure up and running," he said.Construction of Saskatoon's Urgent Care facility is expected to start this fall. It will be built by Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments (ACD) and then leased by Saskatchewan Health Authority from ACD.Moe said a partnership with Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies would train healthcare staff to work in that facility for jobs there or elsewhere in the province.As for surgical wait times, Moe promised more "publicly funded orthopedic surgeries in a private setting...in the next number of months, in the next year or two."Moe was speaking at RGH to announce 80% completion of a parking facility. The province has committed $22.4 million to date for the structure built by Link Developments. The structure is expected to open in two months following interior finishes and electrical work.The Opposition NDP said parking stalls weren't the kind of health spending residents wanted."What we hear from Saskatchewan families is they need access to doctors and for hospitals to be open close to home in the event of an emergency," the party said in a press release.The NDP also complained that Moe had just held his third press event in an unfinished hospital parkade that would not be adequate for demand.The government's expression of interest for the project, released January 5, 2023, said 1,400 staff were on a waitlist for parking and a 1,928-stall parkade would be necessary to accommodate them, patients, and visitors.However, the new parkade will only have 1,005 stalls, consisting of 873 stalls in the parkade and 132 surface stalls, for a net increase of 686 stalls..Sask NDP leader acknowledges worker frustration from Singh propping up Trudeau.At the media event, Moe was asked to respond to comments by NDP leader Carla Beck made earlier in the day that alleged the Sask Party government was failing workers."That is simply false. There's no government that has stood out more for the products that are coming out of the plant at Evraz than this government right here," Moe said.Moe agreed with Beck that the federal Liberal-NDP governmental partnership was hurting Saskatchewan industry but disputed Beck's claims that she was opposed to the partnership."With all due respect, the Leader of the Opposition is nothing short of mistaken and wrong in her assertation. It's this government that has taken the federal coalition that her party supports to task each and every time with the policies that they've brought forward that have been harmful, not only to the folks at Evraz."The province's fixed election laws require a vote to be called on or before October 28. Moe promised an election call would come "pretty soon."
