Nurses at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital (JPCH) in Saskatoon say they're so crowded with young patients it's created a "collapsed situation" — the worst they've ever seen.. Nurse in hospital hallwayNurse in hospital hallway .The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) President Tracy Zambory said the JPCH cannot deal with the number of sick kids..“They’ve seen things get remarkably worse in the last six to eight weeks, and it’s reached a point where there are no more rooms,” said Zambory..“They’ve used every available space. There’s a lot of morale distress with registered nurses who work there because they feel they cannot give these kids the care they require.”.The pressure on JPCH is not just children with RSV, COVID-19, or other flu, but children with chronic sicknesses, severe illnesses, and other illnesses, not flu-related..Zambory said it is time for everyone to meet and figure out how to deal with the situation..“Premier Moe, Minister Merriman, and Minister Hindley need to sit down with us and create a Nursing Task Force (NTF),” said Zambory..“We’ve been calling on this task force to be stood up for months.”. Nurse hospital .The NTF can work to rebuild the JPCH and manage the “crisis point” the hospital is in..“Our members right now are working in a collapsed situation at JPCH and it is quite dangerous what they are being expected to do,” said Zambory..The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said in a statement that it works daily with the “provincial network” to make sure each child has the appropriate level of care and activates contingency plans to provide additional beds or transfers to a more appropriate children’s care unit..“Sixteen additional beds, 11 in the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital and five in Regina General Hospital, are actively being added to the pediatric network to increase access to care for children,” said the SHA statement. .“Incremental staff have been added at peak times into areas that are seeing increased utilization, such as the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Emergency Department, Yorkton, and Moose Jaw Acute Care Pediatrics.”.Zambory said the JPCH situation is similar to what all health centres are facing across the province. The provincial government keeps promising to fix the healthcare system with additional medical personnel, but it keeps getting worse..“What we’re not talking about is retention,” said Zambory..“The registered nurses there cannot continue to work under these conditions. They cannot be mistreated and ignored, and this is what continues to happen.”
