The Saskatchewan NDP is urging the provincial health authority to implement immediate, real-time updates on its service disruption website, following revelations that a rural emergency room was closed nearly 100 times in a single year.
Chronic Closures and Public Confusion
Associate NDP health critic Keith Jorgenson highlighted the ongoing crisis at a news conference on Friday, January 9, 2026. He focused on the community of Watrous, where residents have faced significant confusion due to unreliable notifications about when their local hospital is open and what services are available.
"The people in Watrous had no idea when their hospital was open and they had no idea what services the hospital was able to offer when it was open," Jorgenson stated.
A System Failing Rural Communities
The call for change is backed by alarming data. According to information obtained through a freedom of information request by the NDP, there were 643 hospital closures across Saskatchewan between November 2023 and May 2025.
Jorgenson noted that communities like Davidson, Lanigan, and Outlook have also struggled to keep emergency facilities operational. He pointed out a shocking scenario where all five hospitals serving this region, an area larger than New Brunswick, were simultaneously closed. "Obviously, that has a huge effect on life and death matters," he emphasized.
The notification process has been historically inadequate. For Watrous, closures were previously only posted on the Town of Watrous’ Facebook page. In early November, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) launched a new process, posting all disruptions daily at 4 p.m.
The Push for Live, Real-Time Transparency
However, the NDP argues this daily update is insufficient. Jorgenson cited an example where an overnight closure was not posted until the following afternoon at 4 p.m., leaving residents in the dark during a critical period. He is demanding the SHA website be updated "live in real time."
Drawing a parallel to a public utility, Jorgenson said, "SaskPower has an outage list, right? And you can go on it and it has it kind of broken into little geographic blocks. You’d be like, oh, my power is out. This is why it’s out with an estimate of when it’s going to be on. There’s no reason why they can’t do that."
The critic revealed he has even considered creating an independent public website for updates but acknowledged legal and logistical hurdles, such as ensuring complete and accurate data. He also noted that the SHA maintains an internal website with live updates, questioning why this information isn't made available to the public.
In an emailed response on Friday, the SHA stated it is "focused on restoring health care services temporarily disrupted due to staffing challenges as soon as they occur and preventing them whenever possible." The NDP's push underscores a growing demand for transparency and timely information as rural healthcare access remains a pressing issue across the province.
