Saskatchewan Health Authority activates plans to manage surge in COVID care demands

The Saskatchewan Health Authority has directed its health care teams to reduce non-critical or elective services in order to redeploy staff and expand surge capacity in the health system.  Temporary service disruptions will be localized and time-limited, as much as possible, while teams mobilize to support both growing demands for COVID care and maintain critical services for non-COVID patients.

The more transmissible Delta variant has resulted in increasing pressures on Saskatchewan hospitals at a much faster rate than previous COVID surges, drastically increasing ICU occupancy and hospitalizations due to COVID in the last month. August data shows this is driven primarily by those not fully vaccinated, with nearly 84 per cent of all new cases and hospitalizations unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people.

The directive to SHA teams includes the following surge targets for ICU and hospital capacity:

• surge from a baseline of 79 ICU beds up to 130 to accommodate a projected 80 COVID ICU patients and maintain care for on average 50 non-COVID ICU patients;
• flex up hospital capacity across the province to care for an additional 255 COVID non-ICU patients;

Service slowdowns will include the targeted postponement of elective, non-urgent surgical procedures. This will support teams to create capacity in hospital units where surgical patients would otherwise be cared for after their procedure. As slowdowns are activated, they will be communicated locally using regular service disruption processes. Patients whose booked elective procedures are affected will be communicated with directly.

The SHA is committed to maintain services for mental health and addictions, and childhood immunizations under the age of 2.

Health care teams will also be enacting hospital patient transfers, where required for safety and capacity reasons, to ensure full utilization of hospital capacity within tertiary, regional and local hospitals across the province. This transfer process will allow teams to load level provincially as a system and deal with surges as they hit certain areas. It means that some patients, who fit established criteria and can be assured of comparable safe care, will be transferred to facilities that may not match their preference or is closest to home. The SHA asks for the support and cooperation of all those involved in these transfers to support this needed process during these difficult times.

While the hospital system adapts, the SHA is also redeploying staff to support expanded COVID testing and continued access to COVID vaccines, including:

• Testing teams are working to meet a target of having individuals access a test at a testing centre within 24 to 48 hours of their call for an appointment, or have a wait of no more than 90 minutes at a drive-thru;
• Immunization teams are continuing to balance efforts to increase 1st and 2nd dose uptake through outreach clinics, as well as supporting COVID immunizations within schools, and creating access to booster shots.

Saskatchewan residents can easily access COVID vaccines by visiting a participating pharmacy in your neighborhood or one of our SHA pop-up clinics.

The SHA is urging the public to be patient as health care teams balance growing testing demands with the competing pressures of hospital care and maintaining access to immunization, with ongoing staffing challenges.

“Saskatchewan residents depend on our services so slowing down some services is not an easy choice,” said Scott Livingstone, President and CEO. “But we are challenged to meet the growing COVID demand while facing an increasing shortage of dedicated and highly-skilled health care professionals. They are fatigued and burnt out and dealing with increasingly abusive behavior. We ask for your support, your patience and understanding, and your kindness. Most of all, we implore you to get vaccinated if you are medically eligible, and demand those in your life to do the same. Only by coming together will we get passed this surge before us, and preserve our health system for months and years to come.”