Sask. Opposition criticizes government after Regina Urgent Care Centre reduces hours again

Saskatchewan's Opposition NDP said on Monday that the province is failing to live up to its health care promises after the Regina Urgent Care Centre temporarily closed down over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) announced that the facility was temporarily reducing its operating hours to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST on Sunday. The centre is typically open until 9:30 p.m. every day. SHA said the closure was due to a lack of available physicians.

"The government talks a lot about having the most aggressive recruitment strategy, but the problem is that we're not retaining the employees that we have," Saskatchewan NDP associate health critic Keith Jorgenson said on Monday.

"We have a government that doesn't listen to [health-care workers], that doesn't value them, that doesn't communicate with them."

The centre was back to regular operating hours on Monday.

The facility, located on Albert Street in Regina's North Central neighbourhood, opened in July 2024. Its purpose is to ease pressure on Regina's emergency rooms by treating patients with non-life threatening injuries that still require same-day care. It also provides blood testing, diagnostic imaging, pharmacy services and mental health support.

When it was first opened, then-Saskatchewan Health Minister Everett Hindley predicted the centre would receive 20,000 visits per year. At the time, the centre was widely expected to be open 24-hours a day by the fall of 2024.

Saturday was the third time the UCC has had to close early. It also closed early on June 14, asking patients to go to Regina General Hospital or Pasqua Hospital, and temporarily reduced its hours in December 2024.

In a statement, the SHA did not provide a timeline for when the UCC would be open 24 hours a day. It said that the centre has now treated over 41,000 patients, and is functioning "as intended."

"Patient volumes are aligning closely with initial 24-hour projections, with many individuals receiving care within the planned hours of operation," it said, adding that the government was closely monitoring patient levels to make adjustments as needed.

"We have a responsibility to operate at a capacity that can reliably provide safe and accessible care. Saskatchewan, like all provinces, continues to recruit emergency and family physicians, nurses and other health care providers to help alleviate staffing challenges."

Construction is underway on a new urgent care centre in Saskatoon. Ground was broken on the building, which sits on the old Pleasant Hill School site near St. Paul's Hospital, in September 2024. The project is a collaboration between the Saskatchewan government and Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments.

The Saskatoon centre is expected to be open in the spring of 2026. It too is supposed to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Saskatchewan government says it also wants to build more of these urgent care centres. In its most recent provincial budget, the government allocated $1 million to support the planning of new centres in Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and North Battleford, along with second locations in Regina and Saskatoon.