Regina’s Urgent Care Centre is back to operating on regular hours again after being forced to close early on Sunday due to a physician shortage – which has spurred questions from the NDP Opposition.

Sunday, July 6 marks the second time in less than a month that the facility was forced to close its doors early due to staffing issues. The facility normally accepts patients until 9:30 p.m. but was forced to close at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The centre was supposed to be operating 24/7 last fall. As the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) COO Derek Miller told reporters Monday, recruiting doctors has been an ongoing challenge for the agency.

“We have been careful to understand the impact of recruiting physicians from community – away from family practices for recruitment of family physicians and also the emergency room physicians,” Miller explained.

“We need to be able to sustain emergency room services at the Pasqua Hospital and the [Regina General Hospital].”

Originally, Regina’s Urgent Care Centre was supposed to be open around the clock. Now the SHA says that between the centre and emergency rooms, patient demand is being met.

“We know that our peak demand throughout the day for urgent type services be it that are coming through the emergency rooms or the UCC we’re covering that now,” Miller added.

The province plans to open additional urgent care centres in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and North Battleford. The NDP Opposition questions how the government plans to staff more facilities given the situation in Regina.

“They can’t even properly staff the one facility that they have open,” NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson said. “You know, this is all smoke and mirrors.”

The SHA says it will continue to assess how the Urgent Care Centre and emergency rooms are working together in meeting patient needs.

The assessment will guide a future decision on Urgent Care Centre hours. In the meantime, physician recruitment continues.