WATCH: Asa Rehman reports on growing overcrowding at many B.C. hospitals
VANCOUVER – The BC Nurses’ Union is once again calling on Fraser Health to deliver quality patient care.
This comes after they say an elderly patient spent the past month in a small shower room, with no toilet and no window, at Abbotsford Hospital.
“All patients, young and elderly deserve quality, safe patient care and clearly that is not happening at Abbotsford Hospital,” says Gayle Duteil, president of the nurses’ union, in a release. “The health authority is legally required to hire more nurses, fill vacancies and replace nurses on leaves. Fraser Health must do that – now.”
The nurses say Abbotsford Hospital, like many hospitals, is overflowing with patients and has been for weeks. They add many are lining the halls, including a pediatric psychiatric patient who, until recently, spent 106 hours in the hallway in Emergency.
On Wednesday, the Abbotsford ER was over capacity by 29 patients.
“Surely the executives of Fraser Health want to provide safe patient care, not just for this one poor fellow stuck in the shower room, but all patients in the region,” says Duteil.
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