SHA reveals next step in resumption of services

The Saskatchewan Health Authority’s self-described “methodical and cautious approach” to resuming health services is set to take the next step.

In a media release Wednesday, the authority said it will increase surgical and medical imaging volumes as well as other services at SHA-operated specialty clinics beginning Tuesday.

The SHA restricted its services in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scott Livingstone, the CEO of the SHA, said the team is working as hard and as quickly as it can to resume services across the province while balancing the need to keep capacity and follow COVID-19 guidelines.

Livingstone said he knows there are many people across the province who haven’t been able to get services they need because of the shutdown.

“That’s why the resumption of services will work as aggressively as possible to prioritize those folks that have had their procedures postponed already but also be built on the need of the patient and the ability of the system to actually respond,” said Livingstone.

In the first phase of its resumption of services, the authority restored more than 330 health services and resumed doing some surgical procedures. Regina and Saskatoon now are performing at 45 to 50 per cent of their pre-COVID-19 surgical capacity.

As of Tuesday, surgical capacity will start increasing to 65 to 70 per cent across the province, with urgent, emergent and some elective procedures taking place.

Medical imaging will increase to reach the SHA’s target of 90 per cent of pre-COVID-19 volumes in all services, including MRI and CT scans. Currently, MRIs and CT scans are at 83 per cent of their capacity.

Services such as sleep disorder testing, cardiac stress testing, eye centre testing and operations, and additional cast clinics are to resume over the coming weeks.

The SHA noted COVID-related measures such as physical distancing, cohorting of staff, the use of personal protective equipment, and infection prevention and control may affect the speed of service resumption.

The SHA also noted 122,000 doctors’ appointments have been delivered virtually since that option was made available in March. That service will continue to be offered as needed, and Livingstone said it could keep being offered after the pandemic ends as a solution some geography-based challenges posed in the province.

More information on the resumption of services can be found here.

As for the third phase, Livingstone said the health authority wants to make sure that it monitors its actual capacity and watches how the virus responds to the changes.

“Our plans are like the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan,” he said. “(The goal) is to try to be on a two- to three-week cadence, at minimum, to see where the virus lands as we reopen these services.”

Testing numbers lower

Livingstone said Saskatchewan has done a good job dealing with the virus but we need to stay vigilant.

He pointed out that, despite testing criteria being opened to anyone with COVID-19 symptoms and anyone working outside the home, the SHA still isn’t seeing people come to testing like they were expected to.

“So in the upcoming days, we will be increasing our public communication around testing to try to reduce anxiety around what the process involves, as well as reduce any stigma attached to getting tested,” he said.

Livingstone said it’s part of the ongoing efforts to identify and reduce the barriers people might face to testing.

He said this is all critical work as the province reopens both economically and in the health system.

Field hospitals

Despite the fact the province only had 21 active cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, work is still ongoing on the two field hospitals in Regina (at Evraz Place) and Saskatoon (Merlis Belsher Place).

“We hope we’ll never have to use the field hospitals. That’s like an insurance policy in case, as many experts are warning, there could be a second wave,” said Health Minister Jim Reiter.

Livingstone said the major costs for the field hospitals will be staffing them, if and when they need to be staffed.

The rest of the costs aren’t finalized yet, but Livingstone said the SHA estimates it’ll be around $8 million for both the facilities together. That includes things like construction, equipment and IT services.

Livingstone pointed out that much of the equipment is what would be found in a normal hospital, so it can be reused elsewhere.

For the field hospitals to actually be used, Livingstone said they’d have to see a combination of lots of beds being used for non-COVID-19 reasons and at the same time a major surge of the virus.

There could also be a major outbreak in the larger facilities in Regina or Saskatoon that impacted a lot of staff. In that case, the field hospitals could also be opened to create capacity.