The Saskatoon Health Region has come up with a plan for treating patients in hallways.

Health Region Executive Director of Acute Care, Lorna Clarke, says at times, the emergency room becomes overloaded with people.

"it gets to a point where staff in the emergency rooms have too many patients for the number of staff. So we actually look at very quickly moving patients up into the inpatient units," Clarke said Friday.

She says hallway treatment is not something that happens all the time, but is sometimes necessary.

A formal procedure was needed, as people go on holidays, and managers fill in during the summer months.