Sask. Opposition says memo shows 'muzzling' of health workers in Lanigan
Health minister accuses NDP of 'torquing' issue
The Opposition NDP says a memo it obtained is evidence Saskatchewan Health Authority workers are being "muzzled" by the provincial government.
On Tuesday, the NDP shared a memo sent by the SHA on Feb.7, 2023, the same day two NDP MLAs planned to visit Lanigan and discuss the health-care situation there.
The memo said no staff were to speak or accommodate tours for political parties at the Lanigan Integrated Hospital.
"Please be advised that we are not to co-ordinate tours or answer questions about our facilities to any political parties," the memo said.
"If any MLAs or members of a political party request any information from Lanigan Integrated Hospital, please direct them to the process implemented to contact [redacted]."
Opposition health critics Vicki Mowat and Matt Love were in Lanigan on Feb. 7 as part of the NDP's tour of communities and health-care facilities.
The NDP said the "muzzling memo" was issued to Lanigan Hospital employees the same day the party was meeting with the local mayor, council and health workers off-site.
On Tuesday afternoon, the NDP held a news conference on the topic, saying the MLAs were not even planning on touring the Lanigan Hospital.
"The Sask. Party government is running our hospitals into the ground, and muzzling the nurses and doctors trying to speak up," Mowat said.
"We're in a national competition to hire and retain health-care workers. This government should be listening to health-care workers, not silencing and censoring them."
NDP MLA Meara Conway said centralization of health regions has not improved hospitals or made waits shorter.
"If anything, we've seen repeated attempts by this current government to politicize health care decision-making and silence healthcare workers from speaking out," Conway said.
Health minister says NDP 'torquing' memo in question period
Mowat raised the memo in question period on Tuesday afternoon. She said the memo coming on the same day the Opposition was in town showed government interference and was "highly suspicious."
Health Minister Paul Merriman said the government had no involvement in the memo or limiting access to facilities.
"The SHA has a process in place to make sure these tours are co-ordinated in a safe way. MLAs can't just roll up to a facility and walk through," Merriman said.
Merriman said the government is not restricting the NDP's ability to tour health facilities, listing communities where the Opposition was allowed to tour including Watrous, Lanigan, Humboldt, Warman, Fort Qu'Appelle, Shellbrook, Prince Albert and Delisle.
"They have been on tours. We are not restricting their access in any way."
Mowat and Conway said the government was "silencing" health-care workers.
Merriman said the Opposition was "torquing" the memo. He said it came from the SHA, not the government.
"We have never ever muzzled health-care workers. We will not do that. Health-care workers are very open and engaging with us, sometimes brutally honest, and that's OK," Merriman said.
In May 2020, emergency services at Lanigan Hospital were put on hold.
In April 2022, Lanigan Mayor Tony Mycock came to the legislature to advocate for the resumption of emergency services at the hospital.
"We can't even go get a tetanus shot in town. We have two really good doctors, and we're not utilizing those doctors," said Mycock on April 6, 2022.
On April 14, 2022, the SHA announced emergency services would partially resume in Lanigan.
The Opposition said that on four occasions this year, it has been accompanied on visits to SHA facilities by Saskatchewan Party MLAs and staffers.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Saskatchewan government provided media with written guidance, in the form of a memo from the SHA to its staff and facilities, it said is sent out periodically. It lays out the procedure for accommodating tours by elected officials.
It said tours can cause "clinical and operational challenges if not co-ordinated appropriately."
The directive said requests should be sent to a central figure who can "identify if there are synergies with other tour requests."
Merriman said the person who sent the Lanigan memo "modified" the language of the original memo of tour guidance from the SHA.
SHA response
The SHA's vice president of community engagement and communications Kim McKechney provided a response to the policy regarding tours.
McKechney said central co-ordination of tour requests from elected officials was created because the requests "were creating a logistical burden on local health-care leaders and staff."
"Central co-ordination allows the SHA to create consistent standards and efficient logistical set up for these requests, including practices to ensure safety and patient/resident/client privacy. In addition, this allowed for the documentation and follow-up of additional information often being requested by tour delegates during these tours."
McKechney said the same process is used for all provincially and federally elected officials, "regardless of affiliation."
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