The union representing lab technicians for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is concerned people who have been tested for COVID-19 will have delays receiving their results.
SEIU-West said prior to the coronavirus pandemic, there was an increase in work that the government and health authority had not addressed.
“They’re just running at full tilt and yet they’re still a day or two behind in simply labelling and sorting the samples, let alone testing and analyzing,” said president Barbara Cape.
She also said there is concern for these employees who could be at a higher risk for burnout because of the onslaught of testing.
Four weeks ago, the SHA said it had hired 27 of the 76 new hires it announced earlier this year to help the province reach its goal of being able to complete 4,000 tests per day.
On Oct. 28, Global News visited the Saskatoon testing site.
Ten minutes before it opened, we saw vehicles line up along Thatcher Avenue, eastward along 60 Street West and back north up Idylwyld Drive North running alongside Louis Riel Trail.
Nursing students at the University of Saskatchewan have noticed the increased demand for testing.
Fourth-year students have teamed up with the health authority to create a call centre where students can pass along negative test results.
“I think just that need for more people and manpower to be able to keep up with these very unpredictable times right now with COVID … I think that was kind of the big glaring issue,” Zoe Dahl told Global News.
She is one of the students who helped set up the centre and said usually seven students work there handling more than 300 calls daily.
The university call centre launched Oct. 19 and students will continue to work there Monday to Wednesday until mid-December.
“I think it’s been a great opportunity for us to provide health information for individuals instead of them seeing their negative test results online,” Dahl added.
More than 2,000 tests are being completed across the province every day with a record 3,434 completed Oct. 26.
The SHA and Health Ministry did not respond to Global News’ requests for comment.
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