The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is implementing an updated emergency service disruption process to provide accurate, reliable information about the availability of emergency services across the province. Starting in early November, all emergency service disruptions, regardless of their length, will be posted publicly on the SHA website, with updates occurring daily at 4:00 p.m., seven days a week.
“The SHA is committed to providing patients, families and communities with reliable and accurate information about the availability of emergency services, and we acknowledge frustrations from patients and communities about our current reporting process” said Derek Miller, Chief Operating Officer of the SHA. “These changes will ensure that accurate and reliable information about service availability will be consistently available to the public while our teams work to restore emergency services impacted by temporary disruptions.”
The SHA makes every effort to maintain emergency services by securing staff and physician coverage wherever possible. Temporary disruptions are only implemented as a last resort and may be caused by staff or physician vacancies, unplanned absences, scheduled vacations, or facility and equipment upgrades.
Once activated in early November, the SHA’s new service disruption reporting process will provide patients with an alphabetical listing of all SHA facilities experiencing disruptions to emergency services, updated daily at 4:00 pm. Currently, the SHA posts service disruptions of seven days or more.