Sask. health-care workers rally for more supports from government

Registered nurses, nursing students and supporters arrived in busloads and rallied in front of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building Wednesday, hoping to bring attention to the current condition of the province’s healthcare system.

A group of roughly 100 people took a walking route in front of the Legislative Building to Albert Street, eventually making their way to the bandstand located on the north side of Wascana Lake.

The gathering was coordinated by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) and was meant to bring attention to a number of issues the union is currently facing.

A survey commissioned by SUN, in which more than 1,600 registered nurses took part in, revealed a system riddled with patient and safety concerns.

Praxis Analytics conducted the survey on behalf of SUN, it has a margin error of +/-2.2 per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level.

“We heard from rural, we heard from the emergency room, we heard from the children’s hospital. It’s a dangerous situation out there,” SUN president Tracey Zambory said.

The gathering coincided with the throne speech, happening within the Legislative Building.

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Lieutenant Governor, Russ Mirasty addressed the success of the Saskatchewan Government’s first year of the “Health, Human Resources Action Plan.” It is meant to help raise the number of nurses in the province.

“Since its implementation, 728 new nursing graduates from the province and across Canada have been hired,” the province said.

Zambory said there have been talks with the government to create a task force that could address the healthcare situation.

The task force would include unions, regulatory bodies, employers, educational institutions, as well as government. The talks have been ongoing for nearly two years.

“The system is broken, but it’s not repairable and registers nurses have the answer. We’ve had the answers all along, we just need to be listend to,” said Zambory.

CTV News reached out to the Saskatchewan Government for a response but did not hear back before deadline.