‘People are going to lose their lives’: Sask. man says CT scans need to be available on weekends in Lloydminster

WATCH: A Saskatchewan man is sounding the alarm over staffing levels at the Lloydminster hospital. Laura Woodward has the story.

While in excruciating abdominal pain, Austin Dyer was shocked to learn he couldn’t get a CT scan on weekends in Lloydminster.

Dyer arrived to the Lloydminster Hospital emergency room at 3:30 in the morning on Nov. 24.

The doctor determined a CT scan would be necessary to confirm a suspected case of appendicitis.

However, with no CT staff in Lloydminster on weekends, Dyer had to take an ambulance approximately 140 kilmometres southeast to Battlefords Union Hospital to get the scan.

“The doctor in [emergency] was clearly frustrated that he couldn’t provide proper care, he couldn’t diagnose because he didn’t have the tools available,” Dyer said.

He returned to Lloydminster Hospital at 8:00 p.m. the next evening for surgery.

“My surgery could have been 12 hours earlier than when it was performed,” Dyer said.

On Nov. 29, about a week after his surgery, Dyer developed complications.

“I was literally in the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life,” he explained.

For a second time, he had to take an ambulance to the Battlefords for a CT scan because again there was no staff available in Lloydminster.

The scan revealed he had internal pooling of fluid and would need another surgery.

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Dyer is worried about patients who don’t have 90 minutes to travel to Battleford.

“People are going to lose their lives because we’re not staffing our hospital,” he said.

Dyer’s appendicitis happened the same month another Lloydminster man died in an ambulance, on the way to the Battlefords for CT scan.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said diagnostic CT services returned to a 24/7 availability on Jan. 9.

Weekend service disruption began on Nov. 1, according to the SHA.

Dyer wrote a letter to health officials citing his concerns.

Dyer said he received a letter from the SHA “that was extremely underwhelming.”

“Just a very generic letter saying that ... they’re doing what they can to try to bring staff in, but it just hasn’t happened,” Dyer told CTV News.

“In that letter, they said that we can take comfort in the fact that the staff that are on leave will be returning in January. I don’t take any comfort in that.”

The SHA said recruitment efforts in Lloydminster include posting advertisements and offering bursaries.

“While Saskatchewan’s compensation rates for these specialties are competitive, recruitment in this field remains challenging,” the SHA said in a statement on Jan. 7.