‘This doesn’t work’: Saskatoon family calls for change to hallway health care at RUH

WATCH: A Saskatoon family is calling for changes in healthcare after they say a recent trip to Royal University Hospital left their love one traumatized.

A Saskatoon family is calling for changes to the health-care system after their loved one spent nearly a week on a gurney in a crowded Royal University Hospital hallway, an experience they say left them feeling “broken.”

Lloyd Coakwell, 74, went to RUH last month for an inner ear infection. He said he spent six days in the hallway before being moved into a room.

He said the experience left him traumatized.

“It broke me,” Lloyd Coakwell said.

He was across from constantly opening doors and surrounded by noise.

“It wasn’t even a quiet hallway,” his wife, Marilyn Coakwell, said.

“If you’ve been in a hospital, you know the sound of gurneys and carts going by. It was 24/7.”

The Coakwells said there was no privacy, with hundreds of people passing by each day.

That put him at risk, Marilyn Coakwell said, since his blood cancer weakens his immune system.

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Lloyd Coakwell isn’t alone. In recent months, more patients have come forward with concerns about receiving care in hospital hallways.

Jeremy Cockrill acknowledged ongoing challenges in the health-care system.

“We want to make sure patients are getting treatment in appropriate spaces and some of these stories, quite frankly, are just not acceptable,” Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said.

Cockrill said work is underway to improve patient flow and expand capacity with 109 new acute-care beds at Saskatoon City Hospital over the next year.

NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson said those beds aren’t enough.

“Those beds aren’t fixing the problem because you continue to see the situation deteriorating at our two ERs,” Jorgenson told reporters Wednesday.

He also noted that the City Hospital’s emergency department closed five and a half hours earlier than usual last Sunday.

In a statement to CTV News, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said it acknowledges that capacity pressures create a difficult situation for both patients and health-care workers.

“We regret that these pressures have resulted in a difficult experience for this patient during an already challenging time,” SHA said, noting it welcomes the opportunity to meet with Lloyd Coakwell.

“We just want people to know that this doesn’t work,” Marilyn Coakwell said.

The Coakwells said they have written to the government and the SHA, urging change so no other family goes through the same experience.