Five acute care beds re-open in Biggar

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) would like to advise residents of Biggar and surrounding area that five beds were transitioned from Alternate Level of Care (ALC) back to acute care at the Biggar and District Health Centre effective Monday, October 31, 2022.   Recent Registered Nursing (RN) recruitment success has resulted in the ability to transition the beds back to acute care.

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 the inability to provide safe, predictable patient care.  Five acute beds were temporarily converted to ALC, and eight beds were temporarily closed.

As of October 31, five beds will be open to acute care admissions.  The SHA continues to work on RN recruitment and the remaining beds are expected to re-open through a phased approach dependent on additional RN recruitment success. The ER returned to 24/7 operations effective October 2, 2022.

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 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.