An Alberta Medical Association official says that a physician shortage at Red Deer hospital’s emergency department created “a particularly acute crunch” over the holidays.
Dr. Warren Thirsk, president of the AMA’s section of emergency medicine, said ERs across Alberta were short-staffed during the Christmas-New Year period. But Red Deer’s emergency department was stretched so thin that Alberta Health Services sent out an urgent appeal asking if Edmonton and Calgary doctors could fill in some shift vacancies at the Red Deer hospital.
“I could have worked in Red Deer full time if I could have left my job in Edmonton,” said Thirsk.
He believes Red Deer hospital was about one or two ER physicians short each day — possibly because a couple of doctors wanted some time off with their families over the holidays.
According to AHS, Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, including the emergency department, continues to see high patient demand. And this “is being compounded by some physician shortages, which AHS is working to resolve as quickly as possible.”
Doctor recruitment is ongoing, states an emailed response from Alberta Health Services.
“AHS has multiple actions underway to support patient flow within facilities like RDRHC, including adding beds where possible, increasing staffing, expediting patient moves to appropriate alternative or continuing care spaces, and working provincially to coordinate and support patient movement,”’ the email continues.
“As always, the sickest patients are given priority, and care continues to be provided. No patients are being turned away and there is no risk of an ED closure at this time.”
Thirst said, in his experience, very few patients show up in emergency who shouldn’t be there — especially when required to wait hours to see a doctor.
“We are the catch-all” for people with no other alternatives, said Thirsk — including incapacitated seniors who waited too long to sign up for a nursing home bed, cancer patients who become acutely sick, post-surgical patients who develop complications, and patients whose doctors’ offices are closed and are referred to hospital in an emergency.
Yet, emergency doctors are among the lowest paid physicians in Alberta, often making less than family doctors, he added.
Thirsk blames this on “quirks” of the government billing system and a lack of understanding about ER shift work.
He disputes the UCP government’s claims that Alberta doctors are the best paid in the country, asking why physicians from other parts of the country aren’t flocking here? By unilaterally tearing up a contract with Alberta doctors a couple of years ago, the provincial government did not help outside perceptions and caused many Alberta doctors to move to B.C. and Ontario, he added.
Thirsk noted Red Deer’s regional hospital is known for being chronically short of beds and operating rooms. “That’s why Red Deer (lacks) specialists and general surgeons…
“There have been decades of bad planning and cost restraints, where we are asked to work at 100 per cent (capacity) or 120 per cent…”
Although the Red Deer hospital expansion is slated for completion by 2031, construction on the project isn’t slated to start until about 2027. Meanwhile, local doctors are still waiting for the government develop a transition plan as to how hospital operations can be improved before and during the building period.
The holidays are over, but Thirsk said as flu season continues, so he doubts the emergency room crunch will let up much in January and February.