Advertisement

Patient death in hallway at Winnipeg hospital investigated as critical incident

Click to play video: 'Patient death in hallway at Winnipeg hospital investigated as critical incident'
Patient death in hallway at Winnipeg hospital investigated as critical incident
The death of a patient waiting in a hallway at a Winnipeg hospital’s busy emergency room is being investigated as a critical incident, health officials say – Mar 9, 2023

The death of a patient waiting in a hallway at a Winnipeg hospital’s busy emergency room is being investigated as a critical incident, health officials say.

The patient arrived at the Health Sciences Centre by ambulance just after 11:30 p.m. Feb 27 where officials have said they were assessed and triaged.

But roughly an hour later, their condition worsened. Staff attended to the patient, officials have said, but they were declared dead shortly after.

Health Sciences Centre COO Dr. Shawn Young has said it was a night where seriously ill patients needing immediate care filled the emergency room.

Click to play video: 'Busy night at HSC when patient died in hallway'
Busy night at HSC when patient died in hallway

Health officials announced an initial investigation into the patient’s death last week, and on Thursday confirmed the death is now considered a critical incident.

Story continues below advertisement

Provincial legislation defines critical incident reporting as “an unintended event that occurs when health services results in a consequence to a patient that is serious, undesired and not the result of an underlying health condition or from a risk inherent in providing health services.”

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The designation means a full report into what happened will be made public within three months, as required by the legislation.

Officials have said they can’t discuss details including the patient’s identity, age and cause of death, citing personal health information privacy requirements.

In a statement Thursday, Shared Health said over-capacity protocols were raised at HSC’s ER in the afternoon of Feb. 28, following the patient’s death “as patient flow challenges continued to worsen.”

Young has said staffing levels were “at or near baseline” the night the patient died, but the ER was seeing a high number of high-acuity patients at the time.

Click to play video: 'Nurses Union describes ER issues in Winnipeg'
Nurses Union describes ER issues in Winnipeg

On Thursday he said even with baseline staffing, the ER can become full because beds aren’t available in other parts of the hospital.

Story continues below advertisement

“The challenges we have with flow to get people through the emergency department and into beds is related to staffing elsewhere,” he said.

“So even though the staffing in the emergency department could be OK, where those patients are going, they’re going to really quite understaffed areas at times.

“That was the difference.”

Click to play video: 'Investigation underway after death in hallway at HSC ER'
Investigation underway after death in hallway at HSC ER

Health officials haven’t said how many patients were in HSC’s emergency room at the time, or how many other patients were in a hallway when the patient died.

They have said the investigation will look into whether paramedics were still with the patient or whether they were being attended to by a health-care aide. Officials have said there were no family members with the patient.

Story continues below advertisement

Young said Thursday the final report will make recommendations about how to prevent similar situations in the future.

He said all the recommendations will be made public, as will any details about the incident that don’t compromise patient confidentially.

– with files from Global News’ Sam Thompson

Click to play video: 'Concern over staffing for sexual assault program at HSC'
Concern over staffing for sexual assault program at HSC

Sponsored content

AdChoices