A Prince Edward Island ER doctor says issues in emergency rooms are a symptom of deeper systemic issues across the health-care system.
Long wait times, closures, and staff burnout are just a few of the problems plaguing island emergency rooms, according to Dr. Trevor Jain.
The emergency medicine specialist spoke in front of the Committee on Health and Social Development Wednesday.
“The Emergency Department is the canary in the coal mine,” said Dr. Jain. “It’s an indirect barometer of the health of a health-care system.”
Jain says there is a persistent myth the biggest issues in ERs are caused by low acuity patients, the kind of people who might not have a family doctor and are going to the hospital instead.
“Emergency department overcrowding is an outflow problem, it is not an inflow problem,” said Jain. “We like to be busy. We can be busy. We just can’t be overcrowded.”
He instead points to people in hospital care who should be moved into long-term care or home care, but because of issues in the medical system are left in acute care beds.
That looms large following reduction in critical care services at the Prince County Hospital, the island's second biggest hospital, forcing the most extreme injuries and illness to be transferred to Charlottetown.
“I’m an hour away from the ICU, or that used to be the ICU, at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside, without an additional hour added on to that, so that’s very, very scary," said P.E.I. Liberal Leader Hal Perry, who represents a district in northwest P.E.I.
Jain said there needs to be accountability in upper management.
He said despite promises and changes in the health-care system over the last few years, the situation on the ground has gotten worse.
Jain it's the system, not the front line or the community, that's failing health-care workers.
“It’s damaging when we say, ‘Health-care workers will always step up,’ because if they’re always going to step up, that won’t be the case if they don’t have hope,” said P.E.I. Green Leader Karla Bernard.
Jain responded to the concerns, taking a moment to reassure islanders critically ill patients will get care.
However, he said fundamental structural changes are needed while frontline workers hold back the tide.
