Official as of yesterday at the local Biggar and District Health Centre, 24/7 emergency services were restored for people in and around the West Central community. This was only made possible by the recruitment of 4 Registered Nurses.

The recent announcement came courtesy of the office of Biggar-Sask Valley MLA Randy Weekes through an email, as the Member himself filmed this special video posted to his Facebook announcing the long awaited return of emergency services to Biggar:

Not having enough staff to provide safe and predictable patient care led to Emergency Services being reduced to only 11 hours a day. These services resumed as of 8:00 am Sunday morning, after the 24 hour emergency and acute care services were first reduced back in January.

Weekes shared details from the recent release pertaining to the re-activation of services in Biggar, thanking everyone who played a part in the return of these essential services. As the MLA for the area Weekes wants people to know that they have his commitment, along with the Government's to recruit additional health care staff.

"Difficulty recruiting health care professionals is a challenge that communities across Saskatchewan, Canada, and the rest of the world are facing," said Weekes through a written statement. He continued on, detailing what our Province is doing differently saying, "The difference is that Saskatchewan has an aggressive four-point Action Plan to recruit, train, incentivize, and retain over 1,000 more health care workers to communities across Saskatchewan, including Biggar. I am confident that this plan gives us the tools we need to get health care in Biggar back on track."

Even though some services have resumed, some of this work is still on-going, and will result in the full restoration of acute care beds as well. At this time acute care beds are still being used for Alternate Level of Care patient admissions only. These patients do not typically need daily attendance by a physician, or 24/7 care from a RN; and it's also noted that lab and x-ray, outpatient services, primary health care, and long-term care are unaffected and remain available in Biggar.

Even with the return of emergency services, resident should continue to note that they should still call 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency and an ambulance will be dispatched, and then any other non-urgent health related questions can be directed to the provincial HealthLine at 8-1-1. 

Read the official release from the SHA here.