The Saskatchewan NDP is proposing new legislation that would require the government to publicly notify people when a rural emergency room (ER) has no doctor on staff.

During a press conference on Wednesday, NDP MLAs Keith Jorgenson and Meara Conway gave details about Bill 610, also known as The Provincial Health Authority (ER Virtual Physician right-to-know) Amendment Act.

The bill would require that when an ER is only open with a virtual physician, the public has a right to know that protocol is in place so they can decide on whether to travel there.

“I think it’s extraordinary that we need to introduce legislation for what should be common sense for a government that’s been in power for 18 years, that people need to know when a hospital in ER has no doctor on staff. Rural folk have the right to know,” Jorgenson said.

Jorgenson said it’s important to remind people that communities in rural Saskatchewan don’t usually have a hospital and are required to travel.

“They’re having to make a decision in the case of emergency about what direction they’re driving in, and they need to know if the hospital that they’re driving towards has a doctor that is able to help them, given the emergency that they have on that day,” he said.

While Jorgenson said virtual care does have a place in primary medicine, people have a right to know whether the hospital they’re going to has a doctor on site, comparing it to the Highway Hotline.

“If people can visit the Highway Hotline and see in real time a snowplow moving down the highway then they should be able to see in real time if an ‘open’ rural ER has a doctor,” he said.

At the conference, Conway said according to the Canadian Institute for Health and Information, only 10 per cent of ER visits in Saskatchewan can be safely dealt with through virtual care.

“People rightly expect that when they turn up at the ER, they will see a doctor in person. The virtual physician program was meant to be a temporary fix, but it’s now been added to over 20 communities, and we don’t know of a single one that has stopped the program after putting it in place,” she said.

“It’s not a viable long-term strategy for strengthening our health care system and it could even pose a danger for people.”

In the coming months, Conway said they will be consulting with the public on an initiative to try to find solutions.

The bill was introduced by Jorgenson and read for the first time during legislative assembly on Wednesday, with the second reading expected during the next sitting.