Halifax-area patient says hospital ER trip ‘worst I have experienced’

There are new complaints about the condition of Halifax emergency rooms, with one patient describing a scene of makeshift beds in crowded hallways and nurses out of supplies.

Natalie Brown, who describes herself as a “frequent flyer” of emergency rooms, said Tuesday her visit last month to the QE II Health Sciences Centre was the worst she has experienced.

Brown said the ER’s hallway was lined with stretchers and paramedics waiting with them, while nurses had run out of IV poles and pumps.

“Some patients were on makeshift beds in the hallways, on benches, holding their IV bags and files – the staff was visibly stressed,” she told reporters during a news conference at the legislature.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Some patients were on makeshift beds in the hallways, on benches, holding their IV bags and files - the staff was visibly stressed," she told reporters during a news conference at the legislature.

Brown has chronic illnesses including severe asthma that often requires attention at the QE II’s Halifax Infirmary emergency room.

Brown said her experience last month was “markedly different” from previous trips to emergency and that’s why she’s speaking out in favour of a bill being proposed by the provincial NDP.

The NDP legislation, to be introduced later this week, would require the government to report on the state of the province’s emergency rooms on a monthly basis.

“We need our lawmakers and the people who make these decisions to have a concrete understanding of what’s happening day-to-day in an emergency room and unless you are there, you don’t know,” said Brown.

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Brown said she was taken care of during her ER stay, but there was “quite a long wait.”

“The staff always goes above and beyond,” she said. “Despite the lack of resources, despite what they might be facing – they are incredible.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The staff always goes above and beyond," she said. "Despite the lack of resources, despite what they might be facing - they are incredible."

The Emergency Room Accountability Act would require the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK Children’s Hospital to publish information for each hospital with an emergency department.

That information would include the number of times the criteria have been met for Code Census – a declaration that the emergency department is overcrowded due to a lack of available beds within the hospital – and statistics related to patient care including the lengths of ER stays and the number of patients who don’t have a family doctor.

The New Democrats released statistics obtained under a Freedom-of-Information request illustrating how visits to emergency rooms by people who don’t have a family doctor have skyrocketed since the Liberals took power in 2013.

The figures show 184,867 visits by people without a doctor over the last five years, with 47,948 visits in 2018 alone.

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The most significant increase in the rates of so called “unattached patients” over the five years was a 264 per cent increase at the Valley Regional Hospital, 257 per cent at the Colchester East Hants Health Centre and 217 per cent at the Dartmouth General Hospital.

NDP Leader Gary Burrill said it’s information that should be public.

“It gives an indication of the scope of the government’s failure to deal with the health care crisis,” said Burrill. “Information is the lifeblood of improving the health care system.”

Burrill was asked about the prospects for his party’s bill given the Liberal majority and his party’s third place status in the legislature.

He said his party has a responsibility to hold the government to account and to bring forward its own ideas.

“We will see when we bring the legislation forward what the government and what the Progressive Conservative party has to say,” Burrill said.

Tim Guest, vice-president integrated health services and chief nursing officer at the Nova Scotia Health Authority, said he wouldn’t have a problem making the data available on the authority’s website.

Guest said it shows trends that aren’t new to just the last five years.

“They’ve been things that have been going on for an extended period of time in the health system all across the country,” said Guest. “They are not isolated to Nova Scotia.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They've been things that have been going on for an extended period of time in the health system all across the country," said Guest. "They are not isolated to Nova Scotia."

Guest said the reasons are complex and range from how many doctors are available in certain areas, to what kind of access is available for homecare and long-term care.

As for what Brown observed on her trip to the Halifax ER, Guest said he couldn’t speak to specifics without knowing the precise date. However, in general he said there are times in the winter where emergency rooms are challenged for any number of reasons.

“Weather at this time of the year is a big one,” he said.

“It’s specifically an issue at the Halifax Infirmary with respect to trauma. A bad storm can have a direct relationship to the number of people who are brought in who have fractured bones that need repairs.”

Guest also said flu season is currently challenging resources at local emergency departments.