EXCLUSIVE: Chalmers hospital fire inspections show safety and privacy concerns

FREDERICTON – Doctors at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital are speaking out, citing major safety concerns within the hospital.

The hospital is 40 years old and remains the main medical facility for the capital region.

Peter Landau is a gynecologist and obstetrician and he’s been working in Fredericton for almost four decades.

“We’ve been trying since roughly the year 2000 to make this hospital stop bursting at the seams and adapt with the times,” he said.

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Fire inspection reports, obtained through a Right to Information request by Global News, confirm Landau’s concerns.

The reports show problems relating to a lack of space popping up multiple times over the last decade.

In 2014 alone, fire officials noted patients in hallways, blocking exits. A lack of plugs and outlets meant departments were relying on power bars and extensions.

And lights in some stairways were catching on fire.

Scott Robertson is a family doctor and president of the medical staff at the DECH. He says overcrowding is now so common, there have been several times he has had to visit with patients in hallways and spare rooms.

“At times the emergency room is overcrowded and people do spend some time in the hallway before they are able to get upstairs to a room,” said Robertson.

“And sometimes when they get upstairs to a room, unfortunately it’s the TV room that they spend time in before they get into a regular room, or what used to be a treatment room.”

Surgeon Chris Goodyear works in the Intensive Care Unit, and says it’s difficult to deal with patient’s sensitive issues in such a cramped facility.

“That’s a very hands-on experience in patients and their families,” said Goodyear. “These rooms ideally should be completely isolated from one another, for privacy issues and other issues.”

“We’re definitely not achieving what we would call an optimal health experience for our patients.”

The Horizon Health Network declined our request for an interview.