A $262,260 health assessment found Lloydminster’s mental health and addictions system is so under-resourced that police are the default first responders for people in crisis. The document recommends a 132 per cent increase in community mental health staffing.
When someone in Lloydminster is in a mental health crisis after business hours, there is no clinical team to call. There is no crisis response unit. There is no dedicated psychiatric space at the hospital.
There is the police.
“There is no formal crisis response team in Lloydminster and no after-hours clinical community support, so local police are acting the default first responders for people in acute mental health crisis and any urgent event outside of business hours, frequently bringing individuals to the emergency department,” the Lloydminster Health Service Needs Assessment states.
That is not a gap. That is a system failure documented in a report two governments received in December 2025 and declined to release in full six months later.
One psychiatrist
Lloydminster Hospital does not have psychiatric beds. It never has. Everyone admitted for a psychiatric reason is transferred out of the community, most often to Battlefords Union Hospital in North Battleford, Sask., or the Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury in Ponoka, Alta.
The assessment is direct about why local care is so limited.
“Psychiatric capacity is limited, with only one psychiatrist in the community who manages their own private practice and attends the hospital on an on-call basis,” the document states. “This creates gaps in availability, particularly on weekends, leading to long waits and increased strain on the emergency department.”
One psychiatrist. On call. For a city of more than 31,000 people and a catchment area of 217,000.
The assessment notes that recruiting additional psychiatrists “has been challenging, partly due to general workforce shortages and dual licensure requirements.” In Lloydminster, a psychiatrist must navigate two provincial licensing systems. The assessment identifies this dual-licensing burden as a structural barrier unique to this community.
The ED is the psychiatric ward
Because there are no psychiatric beds and limited psychiatric coverage, the emergency department absorbs the difference.
“Mental Health and Addictions presentations are an increasing proportion of visits to Lloydminster Hospital,” the assessment states. “The Emergency Department manages approximately 1,000 MHA presentations annually, yet there is no dedicated space to provide stabilization for these patients.”
One thousand mental health and addictions presentations a year. No dedicated psychiatric space to handle them. The assessment describes what happens next.
“Current processes rely on ad hoc observation in an existing observation room within the ED, which raises safety concerns, prolongs wait times, and delays appropriate care,” the document states.
Patients in crisis wait in an unsecured space in a general emergency department. The assessment says this “raises safety risks for patients and staff.”
The bi-provincial reality makes it worse. Under Alberta’s Mental Health Act, Lloydminster Hospital is not a designated facility. A person apprehended in Alberta cannot legally be brought there.
“Patients apprehended within Alberta must be transferred to St. Paul,” the assessment states. “With a round-trip journey exceeding three hours excluding time required to process the patient, significant police resources are utilized for apprehensions and transportation of mental health patients.”
A three-hour round trip. For every apprehension. Using police officers as medical transport.
The numbers
Between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2024, Lloydminster RCMP handled a total of 2,626 files associated with the Mental Health Act. Mental Health Act calls not related to criminal offences are increasing. By 2024, the highest single-year count reached 589 files.
The assessment states these volumes “suggest demand for one PACT team.” A Police and Crisis Team pairs police officers with mental health clinicians to respond to crises in the community, keeping people out of the emergency department. Lloydminster does not have one.
Community mental health staffing sits at 0.43 full-time equivalent positions per 1,000 population. The benchmark is 1.1 per 1,000, based on comparable communities including The Battlefords, Sask., and Squamish, B.C.
“A 132 per cent increase in FTE would be required to bring staffing levels to benchmark levels,” the assessment states, with a further 10 per cent increase recommended to account for the administrative burden of operating across two provincial systems.
That is 132 per cent. The community currently has 19.5 community mental health full-time equivalents. The benchmark requires 50.2. The projected need by 2040 is 55.9.
The gap has real consequences the city is already paying for. In May 2026, Lloydminster launched a $325,000 Enforcement and Navigation Unit pairing a community peace officer with a contracted social worker, described by city administration as operating “similarly to a Police and Crisis Team, but with a broader scope.” Andrew DeGruchy, the city’s manager of emergency management, told council the city was absorbing approximately $3 million annually in costs across 11 departments responding to social disorder.
“The City has seen increasing impacts year after year with little investment in root causes or systemic solutions from higher levels of government,” DeGruchy said.
The assessment, delivered to both provincial governments three months before DeGruchy made that statement, recommended a formal PACT team as a priority. Neither province has announced one.
What the assessment recommends
The assessment recommends creating a Mental Health and Substance Use Short Stay Unit within the emergency department. It would provide up to 48 hours of stabilization, assessment, and short-term observation in a dedicated, secure space. The assessment projects Lloydminster will need two dedicated psychiatric short-stay beds by 2040, representing 100 per cent growth from 2024 levels.
It recommends a PACT team, with the majority of shifts running from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. to match peak demand hours identified in the data.
It recommends increasing community mental health staffing by 132 per cent.
None of these recommendations appeared in the four-page summary the government released to the public.
“Community Mental Health is currently under-resourced in Lloydminster relative to similar communities, with interprovincial challenges further adding workload to staffing, leading to a strained and under-resourced service,” the assessment states. “As a result, individuals in crisis are often directed to the hospital and community events are responded to by police; neither of these services are designed for sustained psychiatric management.”
Two governments know this. They have since December 2025.
Government response
BorderPulse contacted the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Alberta Ministry of Primary and Preventive Health Services Thursday with questions about the findings. Dale Hunter, Senior Media Relations Consultant with the Saskatchewan MoH, responded on behalf of both provinces.
“The governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta are committed to working closely to provide consistent, high-quality health care services for all residents in the Lloydminster catchment area,” Hunter said. “The findings of the Lloydminster Health Services Needs Assessment will be used by Saskatchewan and Alberta in support of future planning in the Lloydminster area to address any service gaps, as well as opportunities for improvement.”
Hunter said mental health is among the areas both governments intend to focus on.
“The Government of Saskatchewan continues to prioritize prevention and community-based care with expanded mental health care supports,” Hunter said. “As part of our multi-year Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions, we are making progress on enhancing the mental health system and strengthening our response to improve mental health for Saskatchewan residents and communities.”
Neither province committed to a Police and Crisis Team, a Mental Health Short Stay Unit, or a specific timeline for addressing the 132 per cent staffing shortfall identified in the assessment.
This is not the first time the gap has been identified. A 2013 health assessment commissioned by the same two governments found Lloydminster was short at least 10 mental health beds and called for immediate expansion of mental health services. Twelve years later, the community has one psychiatrist, no psychiatric beds, and a 132 per cent staffing shortfall.
Monday: ICU, what ICU?
This is the next part in a multi-part investigative series revealing what they don’t want us to know about the full Assessment.
Read the full series so far: Lloydminster Health Needs Assessment: Investigation
