By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — Increased staffing levels at the Davidson Health Centre are here to stay.

Three new positions added last year on a temporary basis have been made permanent, management confirmed to the Leader recently.

Gayle Riendeau, acting president and CEO of Heartland Health Region, said that the trial period for those positions was extended in the summer.

Ultimately, she added, “we came to the conclusion that the enhancements we had made were meeting the needs at the site.”

The “staffing enhancements” were among the measures introduced by the health region last year with the goal of improving the centre’s efficiency, safety and quality of care.

The three additions included a licensed practical nurse (LPN) working on the night shift — 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

The region also created an assistant head nurse position, working three eight-hour shifts per week, or a total of 24 hours each week.

Finally, a combined lab/X-ray technician joined the staff for eight hours per week.

The three positions were announced in October of 2016, when they were filled on a temporary basis.

In the months that followed, the region continued to hold regular meetings between staff and management to discuss and address concerns.

“We’ve found it to be beneficial . . . in helping to resolve issues,” Riendeau said, adding that the meetings would continue, as would the strive to keep improving service and outcomes at the facility. “You’re never done making quality improvements.”

This past August, management again met with staff and the union local representative to inform them that the positions would be made permanent.

Riendeau said the positions were reposted with the new terms and it was her understanding as of mid-September that “they’ve all been filled.”

Local nurses went public with their concerns over staffing levels at the centre in August 2016, after the region chose not to fill a vacant relief nursing position there.

In a visit to Davidson town council, several nurses reported that the situation at the centre had become unsafe, posing a risk to the safety and health of both patients and staff.

In the weeks that followed, several patients also spoke out, describing how service interruptions at the centre resulted in them being sent home or transferred to other facilities.

In September, local staff met with rural and remote health minister Greg Ottenbreit in Davidson. The three temporary positions were announced the following month.

Registered nurse Lindsay Cross spoke to the Leader in early September, saying the permanent positions were a positive step for the Davidson Health Centre.

Having both a registered nurse (RN) and an LPN working overnight addressed a major concern for the staff. Previously, only one RN would oversee the night shift, assisted by one or two care aides.

Changes at the centre have also included some reorganization and rearrangement of the work flow, along with some physical changes to the building.

“We had an massive amount of change in a short period of time,” Cross said.

One of these initiatives involved repurposing a room that formerly held a program bed. The room is now used for emergency patients, bringing them closer to the nurse station.

This makes it easier for nurses to provide care for those patients, largely because the distance between them and their regular work area has been reduced.

“It was just a way to keep us closer to the patient,” Cross explained, adding that the traditional emergency room is still used for triage and for patients requiring urgent care.

She said the changes have helped to improve morale and reduce burnout among the health centre staff.

For instance, just two combined lab/X-ray technicians had been in the on-call rotation previously, which meant that one or the other always had to be available.

The addition of a third CLXT has greatly improved the situation, Cross said.

“Lots of people are getting cut, and we see additional hours,” she said. “I think all of us were pretty shocked that we got hours permanently (added) . . . within the year, too.”

Further changes are on the horizon for Heartland and the other health regions in Saskatchewan, as the province gradually moves towards having a single health authority.

Riendeau said Heartland management is receiving bi-weekly updates on the transition process, adding, “All that we receive and learn is shared in turn with staff.”

The province announced in late August that Scott Livingstone, head of the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, had been appointed CEO of the new health authority.

Once launched, the organization will replace the 12 boards currently operating in Saskatchewan.

The health authority’s 10-member board was announced in June.

A date for the launch of the single authority has yet to be announced, but it is expected to take place sometime this fall.