Hospital's ER hit 400 per cent capacity: doctor

Bring several snacks, a blanket and a good book unless you're in an 'immediate life- or limb-threatening condition': Seghal

Article content The emergency room at Fredericton’s hospital was at 400 per cent of capacity on Tuesday night, according to a doctor working at the facility, and Health Minister John Dornan says summer staff vacations are contributing to the backlog. In a social media post on Tuesday night, Dr. Yogi Seghal warned anyone coming to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital (DECH) to “expect significant wait times (worse than usual) at DECH ER due to being waaay (sic) over capacity.” “I don’t think I’ve ever seen 400 per cent capacity before,” Seghal wrote.

“If you have an immediate life- or limb-threatening condition, you will still be seen immediately somewhere. But if it is a less urgent issue, expect a long wait so bring a book and a blanket and a snack (or several).” Seghal added that the DECH has “seen a lot of preventable injuries recently.”

“Wear your helmet if riding anything, plan a designated driver even if you are on an ATV or e-scooter, and slow down when driving. There are still plenty of infectious conditions circulating (yes, including COVID), so please wash your hands and stay home if you are actually sick. “Please check in more often on your loved ones, especially those who are older, to see if an ounce of prevention can keep them out of a crisis.

Most importantly, everyone knows this sucks so please be kind. Yelling at the triage nurse just ticks everyone off and actually makes the situation worse for everyone.”

Brunswick News asked Seghal for an interview, but didn’t receive a response. Similar tales of extraordinarily long wait times at the Saint John Regional Hospital have also been shared on social media in recent days. In an email on Wednesday, Horizon Health Network spokesperson Kris McDavid said Greg Doiron, the network’s vice president of clinical operations, was unavailable for an interview.

Instead, a statement attributed to Doiron was sent. “Horizon continues to experience significant capacity pressures in our hospitals, and our emergency department teams are caring for a high volume of patients,” the statement read. “As of today, 42 per cent of our acute care beds are occupied by 721 patients who have been medically discharged and awaiting placement in a long-term care facility.

Of that number, we could discharge 324 patients to the community today if enough long-term care beds were available. “This situation impacts every corner of our health-care system, including our emergency departments, where many boarded patients are being cared for in hallways and temporary spaces. This has a direct and profound impact on (emergency room)

wait times and overall patient flow. “Our teams are managing these challenges to the best of their abilities, and we are grateful to our dedicated physicians, nurses, and allied health-care professionals for their commitment to providing the best possible patient care under challenging conditions.” Doiron ended his statement by noting staff vacations are also having an impact.

“As we do every summer, Horizon is working closely with our frontline and administrative teams to support employees and physicians taking well-deserved vacations while maintaining safe operations.” Horizon didn’t directly dispute Seghal’s numbers, but noted that as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, there were 35 “treatment spaces” in the ER, and 15 patients in the ER who had been “boarded” but were waiting for an inpatient bed. However those statistics didn’t include the number of people in the waiting room who had been triaged but not treated.

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to address questions about the province’s move to a new virtual care provider, Dornan, who said he takes Seghal’s data “at face value,” agreed that staff vacations are contributing to the backlog. “Not everybody wants to take their holidays in February, and so we try to accommodate when people ask for summer holidays to the best of our ability,” Dornan said. “Sometimes that might leave us short-staffed.

We do try hard to backfill that. We do like to think our environment is is worker-friendly, patient-friendly. “So there are times of the year, such as holidays, such as summer times, where we have a bigger challenge in staffing our ERs and other areas of our hospital.”

There are other factors at play, Dornan added, including staff maternity and paternity leaves, and patients showing up at the ER to have prescriptions renewed.