Saskatoon City Hospital opens 20 beds, 49 more delayed

Saskatoon City Hospital has opened 20 more acute-care medicine beds, but the last 49 beds promised in its expansion will not be ready by the end of the year as planned, the Saskatchewan government says.

The new beds bring the number of added general medicine beds at City Hospital to 60, Global News reported. Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the remaining 49 beds were delayed by “construction challenges” at the hospital and at Market Mall, where some outpatient and continuing care services are moving to free up space. The province now aims to open them by March 2027, CTV News reported.

“I think it has also given us the opportunity to ensure that when beds and services do come online, they’re staffed and they are ready to go for patients on day one,” Cockrill told reporters on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The province also said it has finished expanding acute care at Saskatoon’s two other hospitals, with 36 new inpatient beds at Royal University Hospital and 24 at St. Paul’s Hospital. Together with the City Hospital beds, that is 80 new acute-care beds in the city, and 120 over the past 12 months, supported by a $73-million investment this fiscal year, according to CTV.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said the contractor has finished renovating the Market Mall space. Derek Miller, the authority’s chief operating officer, said the geriatric evaluation management unit on City Hospital’s seventh floor and the surgical pre-assessment clinic on the fourth floor will move to the mall over the coming weeks, through November.

The province said all positions for the 60 new City Hospital beds have been filled. Global reported it is still looking to fill 39 positions at Royal University and St. Paul’s.

The Opposition NDP said beds alone will not fix hallway care. “The minister thinks that beds treat people and keeps forgetting that staff treat people,” said Keith Jorgenson, the NDP’s associate health critic. He also pointed to ongoing bargaining with CUPE Local 5430, which represents more than 14,000 health-care workers and voted 99 per cent in favour of job action in September.

The City Hospital project, announced in March 2025 with $15 million in provincial funding, will add 109 acute-care beds in all, according to the health authority, and is expected to raise Saskatoon’s acute-care capacity by 14 per cent.

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