The Government of Saskatchewan has announced a plan that will see some Saskatchewan Health Authority redeployed staff return to their home units by the end of the month. 

Those being returned to their regular units will be redeployed staff in contact tracing, test assessment sites and outbreak management.  

According to the SHA, about 860 staff members have been redeployed since the slowdown in services including 450 that are eligible to be deployed back to their home units. 

Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency president Marlo Pritchard noted that this does not include all redeployed staff. 

“I want to stress that this will not have an impact on those SHA redeployments that are directly supporting initiatives such as ICU support, acute care services, critical care in our hospitals, and vaccine delivery programs. Those redeployments will remain in place,” Pritchard said. 

When it comes to bringing back ICU redeployed staff, Pritchard added that it is going looked at on an ongoing basis. 

“We have a planning cycle every day and we will continue to do that and respond as the situation dictates it,” he said. 

The SHA has already initiated plans to start bringing back redeployed staff for youth programming, with the hopes to have most programs up to full capacity by Nov. 11. This includes autism services and child psychology. 

The plan is to have 50 per cent of eligible staff brought back to their home units next week, 75 per cent the following week, and 90 per cent by the end of the month. 

Derek Smith, chief of emergency operations with the SHA, said they are working towards getting surgeries back on track. 

“We'll certainly adjust as quickly as possible to be able to move those staff back to their home departments so we can get back to things like the surgical backlog and all the other services that have been impacted and continue to be impacted by the slowdown,” he said.