Questions are being raised about the crowded conditions at Royal University Hospital (RUH) after the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) released conflicting claims on the cause of the conditions.

Following a viral video depicting emergency ward hallways at Royal University Hospital being filled with patients, SUN is saying that the conditions shown in the video have become the new normal for the hospital.

The statement from SUN comes after the SHA said an uptick in the number of flu cases is the cause of the influx in patients. SUN claimed that SHA’s statement is untrue.

In a post on Facebook, SUN shared a statement from an anonymous RN saying, “This is not a sudden or isolated crisis. It is the culmination of years of escalating strain that is now directly and dangerously impacting patient care.”

Associate Shadow Minister for Health and NDP MLA for Saskatoon Churchill-Wildwood Keith Jorgenson says he would like to see both SHA and the provincial government take action to fix the problems seen at RUH and other hospitals across Saskatchewan.

“Someone contacted me after this story broke saying things are even worse at St. Paul’s. There’s no video showing the conditions at St. Paul’s but conditions are even worse there. The fire department actually cited the health region for having patients blocking fire escapes. So we know this has become epidemic in the system.”

“I would encourage them to come clean about the conditions in the hospital, for (Health) Minister Cockrill to come and tour it, and for them to have a frank and open conversation about how they can fix it.”

Jorgenson adds that additional staffing and larger facilities would provide relief to the problems currently being faced at Royal University Hospital.

“All of these problems stem from the same place. We have healthcare workers that are overloaded. There’s too many people being cared for in too small of a space. And so the solution is more healthcare providers, more space to treat them (patients) in.”

Jorgenson believes the first step to fixing the conditions in the hospitals is for the provincial government and the SHA to admit that the conditions depicted in the video are a regular occurrence and not an anomaly.