A Saskatoon mother is calling on Premier Scott Moe to visit the Royal University Hospital (RUH) waiting room following her “horrendous” experience.
About three weeks ago, Fran Forsberg took her 18-year-old daughter, who was battling a mental health issue, to RUH.
Forsberg said she waited eight hours for her daughter to see a doctor.
While sitting in the emergency waiting room, Forsberg said she witnessed a woman have a heart attack and another patient pass out from excessive blood loss.
“I was flabbergasted,” Forsberg said, in a news conference hosted by the NDP.
Forsberg said she had heard hospital horror stories, but was in disbelief to see the “risk and suffering” firsthand.
Now, she’s calling on the premier to do the same.
“I challenge you. Go and sit for at least eight hours,” Forsberg said.
“Educate yourself, sir. Educate yourself, because you absolutely have no idea.”
The province said Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill “has personally toured all hospitals in Saskatoon” in the last 30 days.
“We recognize the challenges within the system and are actively working to address them,” the Ministry of Health told CTV News in an email.
The Ministry of Health said Saskatoon hospitals have added more beds — including 21 in acute care and three in the ICU.
Forsberg thanked the healthcare workers who are “taking the brunt of everyone’s frustration.”
NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat said improving healthcare starts with having frontline workers “at the table and listening to them.”
The Ministry of Health said Cockrill has had discussions with medical groups and unions representing healthcare workers.
On Sept. 27, Saskatchewan’s former health minister invited presidents of healthcare-worker unions to join a nursing task force — something the government previously said no to.
Mowat called it “an 11th hour campaign commitment.”
“Where’s the nursing task force? It’s been over 90 days,” Mowat said.
In 2022, Saskatchewan announced a plan to recruit, train, incentivize and retain healthcare workers.
Two years later, the province said “extraordinary” progress has been made — highlighting the recruitment of 253 physicians and the hiring of over 1,400 nursing graduates.
