The Offical Opposition Health Critic in Saskatchewan had a firsthand experience with some of the problems Saskatchewan’s healthcare system is having.

Vicki Mowat went to the Emergency Room at the Regina Pasqua Hospital after having sharp pains in her abdomen.

Mowat said before even seeing a doctor, she was told she would be in a hallway bed.

“It was really hard to not just feel like a number sitting in a hallway or laying in the hallway as people are shuffling past you and beds are moving past you, and doctors are having to squeeze out of the way as patients are being transported around. The fact that they’ve set up these hallway beds as semi-permanent locations when there is no privacy, there is no dignity, there is no ability to push a call button when you need to see someone. It’s a real eye-opener to an issue that I already knew existed.”

She said her experience shows how urgent the need for help is for the province’s healthcare system.

“During my initial assessment from a doctor, she got pulled away for an urgent phone call that latest like 15 minutes so her assessment of me was broken up in two portions of time after I had already been in the hospital for four hours, and it was an urgent concern as they thought I may need surgery.”

She added that she feels reinvigorated in her focus on the issues in Saskatchewan’s healthcare system.

“I’ve been talking about hallway medicine and concerns in emergency departments for years, but I’ve been really lucky that I haven’t had to experience them very much firsthand,” she said. “We’ve been advocating for patients and healthcare workers who have been raising concerns about their ability to provide care in the hospital, but it’s really something different to experience it firsthand.”