Saskatoon emergency room patients waiting almost a full day to get a hospital bed

SASKATOON -

Saskatoon emergency room patients were waiting an average of 21 hours for a hospital bed last week.

In some cases wait times were as long as 53 hours.

John Ash, executive director of acute care for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), provided the figures in a physician town hall Oct. 7.

"So these are patients that have been admitted to the emergency department that are waiting in the emergency department for a bed which is obviously not ideal," he said.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Saskatchewan has tripled since Aug. 30, which is the highest number since the start of the pandemic, he said.

As of Oct. 5, 65 people across the province had been admitted to hospital with no bed available at the time of admission. SHA spokesperson Doug Dahl told CTV News that number can vary throughout the day as patients are admitted, discharged or transferred between units and facilities.

In the town hall, Ash also noted the maximum times paramedics had to wait to offload their patients: eight hours at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, six hours at Regina General Hospital and 4.5 hours at Pasqua Hospital.

There have also been delays at Moose Jaw Hospital, which are "almost unheard-of," he said.

"So those are significant impacts to our system."