Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital (JPCH) in Saskatoon has reached a crisis point with 108% overcapacity..In a letter acquired by the Western Standard from the Manager of Pediatric Inpatients Jonathan Melville; he said that “staffing pressures remain high.” .JPCH had four children waiting in the Children’s Emergency Services as the pediatric inpatients is running at 108% capacity..“On Tuesday, the in-patient ward was at 106% capacity… Three kids were sitting in emergency who should have been admitted to the ward. On Wednesday, they were at 108% capacity; there were four kids stuck in emergency,” said Ryan Meili, NDP Leader of the Opposition..The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is at 125% capacity with 15 kids in a 12 bed unit..Minister of Health Paul Merriman said the PICU flexes up to 18 beds when necessary and the JPCH has up to 201 “planned beds” with only 170 are currently being used..“We do have some seasonal issues. I think it’s called RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). (It) does affect children’s respiratory. It’s not COVID-related. We’ve seen some influxes in the children’s hospital where it has got to a higher percentage,” said Merriman..Meili suggests that Merriman does not know what he is talking about..There are “planned beds” not being used, but it’s because they cannot use a neonatal intensive care bed for older children..“You talk about the in-patient ward already overcapacity. There’s nowhere for those kids to go. He’s talking about beds that are for newborn babies or neonatal intensive care units. That’s not a place you can send a full-sized kid to go and get care. It just doesn’t work that way,” said Meili..Due to the capacity issues, JPCH is restricting admission to only urgent cases and expediting planned discharges to handle more cases..Premier Scott Moe described the JPCH situation as a “little challenge.”.“Our provincial capacity is at 93%, we would expect and understand that those that are making the decisions with respect to allocating the folks that need those services to the resources, and where those resources are available, are doing so,” said Moe..Merriman admitted that the JPCH has some “issues” and accused Meili of “fear mongering.”.“There may be some pressures in specific wards where they are at or just overcapacity, but we do have flex within the children’s hospital to be able to move them if need be,” said Merriman..“The units are all completely strained — not enough staff, no way to deal with this added level of care… What is the immediate plan to make sure that every Saskatchewan kid who needs a bed has a place to go?” asked Meili..Merriman is concerned with Meili’s “fear mongering” scaring parents away from JPCH..“I don’t want parents out there to be panicking, because if people hear things like “it’s overcapacity” or “it’s full” then they might not bring their children in that needs medical treatment,” said Merriman..The government said it is recruiting more healthcare workers to help solve these types of problems in the future..Chris Oldcorn is a Western Standard Reporter based in Regina.,coldcorn@westernstandard.news,Twitter: @chrisoldcorn,.Parler: @chrisoldcorn
