Preeceville, Sask. – A shortage of doctors has led to a temporary suspension of emergency room services and acute admissions at the Preeceville & District Health Centre.
Effective June 1, all emergency room services will be closed and six beds from emergency services will be added to long-term care. Four beds will be used for respite, palliative and alternate care.
“This isn’t a decision that we made lightly but we need to work with everyone to work toward having consistent, primary health services in Preeceville,” Suann Laurent, president and CEO of the Sunrise Health Region, said.
“This isn’t a budget issue, why we’re doing this,” Laurent said. “The reason that we’re doing this is the circumstances that we’re in terms of having a lack of physician coverage.”
The health region said the one physician and a nurse practitioner will continue to province clinic appointments at the centre. The centre serves about 60,000 people in the region.
“We’re not able to have a robust ER coverage with just one doctor because nobody can work 24/7,” Laurent said. “We’re trying to retain him by having him work in the primary clinic and we’ll continue to recruit to assist him with the clinic.”
The Sunrise Health Region will remain fully staffed and be used for lab and x-ray services, long-term care, day wellness, visiting services, the primary health care clinic and home care.
Outpatient treatments will still include suture removal, IV antibiotics, dressing changes and nebulizer treatments. The centre already has 38 long-term beds and two respite beds.
Laurent said staff have been informed about the change, which will not result in any job losses or a reduction in hours.
“They will look after the long-term care people that are going to those temporary long-term care beds, potentially help in primary health care and continue to work in the Preeceville and District Health Centre,” Laurent said.
Back in June 2015, the Sunrise Health Region made the decision to shut down the Preeceville emergency room every second week when one of the town’s two physicians decided to move to Regina.
During the bypass weeks when ambulances are told not to stop there, emergency services are offered during certain hours in Canora, Sask (30 minutes away) or 24-hours in Yorkton (one hour away).
The health region faced criticism when a local man, Floyd Head, died from a heart attack after being transported to Yorkton, Sask. when the Preeceville emergency room was closed at the time.
READ MORE: Family seeking changes after Preeceville man dies during ER closure
Laurent said Preeceville emergency room services have had interruptions since 2006, with hours changing depending on when the doctor is available. From April 1, 2015 to April 1, 2016, out of 365 days, 229 days were affected by emergency interruptions.
“We really needed to see what we could do in a different way to retain our existing physician and level the work or the demand on the physician,” Laurent said.
In order to provide 24/7 emergency coverage, Laurent said a minimum of four physicians is needed.
“Most physicians are wanting to be recruited to a practice where there are at least three and most are requesting four to be part of an on-call rota for quality of life,” Laurent said.
“Right now what we have happening in Preeceville is the physicians are really fragmented in all the different places they have to cover, just being one person.”
According to the health region, there have been five physicians recruited since 2010. Four have since left.
There have also been four physicians who were offered contracts but turned them down. Three others did not meet the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPA).
Currently, a second physician recruited for the town has been registered for SIPA. If the assessment goes well, the physician would be able to work in the community by mid-October.
As an incentive for rural physicians, Saskatchewan offers a grant that provides $25,000 to physicians who work in rural areas for a minimum of 12 months.
Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit said recruitment and retention in rural Saskatchewan areas have been a challenge.
“We’ve been fairly successful in Preeceville in that we do have permanent doctor services, permanent physicians that have been recruited through SIPA,” he said. “But for whatever personal reasons, from time to time, the doctors decide to move on.”
He added that doctor shortages in rural areas is not unique to Preeceville, or even Saskatchewan, but says the province has successfully recruited 150 doctors into rural settings.
“We see (shortage) Canada-wide. We see it in a lot of other jurisdictions,” Ottenbreit said.
NDP Health Critic Danielle Chartier said all citizens of Saskatchewan deserve health care in their region.
“LEAN hasn’t been good in terms of supporting a positive environment,” Chartier said. “We also have failing infrastructure.”
Patients who need to access emergency services can still call 911. If they need to access an emergency care, they would go to the nearest hospital, in Canora.
Laurent added it is too early to see if the closure would be permanent. If it’s not, the six beds would go back to emergency care.
Comments