Biggar emergency services to resume 24/7 service
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) would like to advise residents of Biggar and surrounding area that emergency services will resume 24-hour/seven days per week at the Biggar and District Health Centre effective Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 8 a.m. Recent Registered Nursing (RN) recruitment success has resulted in the full ER service resumption.
In January 2022, 24-hour emergency and acute care services were temporarily reduced at the Biggar and District Health Centre due to challenges with the recruitment and retention of registered nurses and inability to provide safe, predictable patient care. Emergency services were reduced to 11 hours per day and acute care beds were temporarily converted to Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patient admissions only.
At this time, acute care beds remain available for Alternate Level of Care (ALC) admissions only. Patients who may be admitted to ALC do not require daily attendance by a physician or the 24/7 support of a registered nurse and include palliative, convalescent, respite or rehab patients. Lab and x-ray, outpatient services, primary health care, and long-term care are unaffected and remain available at Biggar.
PLEASE REMEMBER: In the event of an emergency call 9-1-1 and an ambulance will be dispatched to provide assistance. Non-urgent health-related questions can be directed to the provincial HealthLine by calling 8-1-1.
The SHA continues to work on Registered Nurse (RN) recruitment with a goal toward full resumption of acute care services at Biggar and District Health Centre. The Government of Saskatchewan recently released an aggressive Health Human Resources Action Plan that builds on existing initiatives and incentives and will assist the SHA with addressing the staffing challenges that communities across Saskatchewan are currently facing. The plan includes investments of over $60 million through a four-point plan to recruit, train, incentivize, and retain more healthcare professionals to stabilize and strengthen Saskatchewan's healthcare workforce.
The SHA has appreciated the dedication of the physicians and staff at Biggar and District Health Centre as well as the ongoing patience and cooperation of Biggar and area residents.