Saskatchewan plans to increase ICU beds as COVID cases climb

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is preparing to treat a larger number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients in the province. 

"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," the SHA said in a news release.  In the days and weeks ahead, the SHA has set a target to increase the number of available intensive-care unit beds in the province to 130, up from 79. The expectation is that COVID-19 patients may soon be using 80 of those beds, with 50 beds remaining to care for other critical patients.  The SHA is also working to increase hospital capacity outside the province's ICUs so that an additional 255 COVID patients could be treated at any given time.  And while the health authority works to increase its capacity to care for COVID-positive patients, it is temporarily scaling back non-critical and elective services.  The SHA says it is committed to maintaining services for mental health, addictions and early childhood immunizations. Other patients, however, may be contacted about postponing or rescheduling procedures they had planned.  "Saskatchewan residents depend on our services, so slowing down some services is not an easy choice," said Scott Livingstone, SHA 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."