A Sask NDP MLA is calling for improvements to be made to the province’s health care system after her mother spent over 100 hours in the hallway at Royal University Hospital before finally getting a room early this morning.

MLA Joan Pratchler, whose mother had a stroke and also suffers from dementia, says that situations like the one her mother was in are not unusual for hospital patients and families across the province.

“This is usual, they said it could be days. That’s what they told me yesterday, it could be days more and I go ‘okay, I’ll pack a lunch and we’ll start again today’. When you have those hallways set up, they’ve been set up for a long time.”

As a former nurse, Pratchler says she knows that front line healthcare workers are doing the best with what they have and that the government is to blame for the issues with the provincial healthcare system.

“They just said ‘we know it’s not supposed to be like this, but it is’. And they’re trying to keep their spirits up, and they are and the nursing carers and the physio carers, they’re doing the best they can as they navigate the beds and the carts through everything in there. It’s a challenge for everybody.”

She adds that the provincial government should have known that hospitals would need more beds and staff as Saskatchewan’s population continues to age.

“And you know that the demographics of our population is older, so you can expect more of those kind of cases in stroke and elderly care, you can expect more of that as they have an aging population. So then what do you have to do? Prepare for that.”

Pratchler urges the provincial government to “pick it up, boys” and take action to address the shortages in Saskatchewan’s healthcare system.