Not just Langley: B.C. doctors say emergency departments across province on 'red alert'
The "near catastrophic" situation at Langley Memorial Hospital's emergency department, first reported by CTV News this week, is just one example of what B.C. doctors say is a provincial crisis.
The "dire" and "unsafe" conditions in the Langley department were highlighted in a memo sent by Dr. Jeff Plante in which he urged his colleagues in Fraser Health not to send patients to the hospital, saying the facility was "overrun" due to an influx of patients and that staffing shortages on wards have led to very sick people being warehoused in the ED.
On Wednesday, Doctors of BC issued a statement saying the issues raised in the memo are not isolated to Langley and that they are shining a spotlight on the untenable and potentially dangerous situation unfolding at hospitals across the province.
“Our emergency departments are on red alert,” Dr. Gord McInnes, co-president of the Section of Emergency Medicine, wrote.
“Our patients are suffering, and the doctors struggling to provide their care are tired and distressed. Our patients need and deserve better. They deserve to know that they will be safe, and that they will be cared for when they go to an emergency department for help. The dire situation we are facing now cannot continue.”
The statement says it's become common for patients to wait eight hours to see a doctor and to spend between 24 and 48 hours in the ED before being transferred to a ward. During these waits, according to the organization, patients' conditions too often deteriorate.
"Research shows that after six hours of waiting in the emergency department for care, mortality and morbidity increase by 10 per cent," the statement says.
While addressing a lack of capacity and staffing shortages will take time, Doctors of BC says there are measures that the province and health authorities can and should take immediately to help ease the strain.
First, the organization would like to see doctors and nurses "empowered" to declare a "code orange." Reserved for mass casualties or disasters, provincial guidance says this can not be done in cases where there is "overcapacity or gridlock in an emergency department." But Doctors of BC says being able to call a code orange would allow frontline staff to move patients out of the ED once it has reached its "critical limit," and would give health-care workers "the space to assess, diagnose, and initiate treatment."
Second, the group is advocating for a process that would see "acutely ill" patients from the ED moved in to rooms with recovered patients who are close to being discharged.
Notwithstanding the pressures on the system, Doctors of BC says anyone who needs emergency care should not hesitate to seek treatment.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.