Night visitors to the emergency department at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre were recently warned the estimated wait time to see a doctor was eight hours and 15 minutes.
James Bicigo said his wife Karen Gustafson arrived by ambulance at about 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 because of blood clot complications due to chemotherapy, and it took about six hours to see a doctor after initial triage.
“The hallway (in the emergency room) was packed. The waiting room was packed. So the place was hopping,” said Bicigo who took a photo of the 8 hour and 15 minute wait time posted on a screen in the emergency room waiting area.
“I don’t see anyone not doing their job in the emergency room. What I do see is they don’t have the resources to do it well. They are struggling with an impossible situation.”
said he was told that 23 beds in emergency were in use and that left seven beds for new emergency patients. His wife waited on a gurney with ambulance staff. Once she saw a doctor treatment started quickly and she is doing much better.
Bicigo said it wasn’t the first time this year that he’s seen lengthy wait times in emergency. Someone somewhere at Alberta Health Services (AHS) is not addressing the problem.
Allan Sinclair, executive director in Red Deer with AHS Central Zone, said on a busy day the estimated wait time can spike to over six hours three or four times a day and it may stay there for a few minutes. That can happen when a lot of people come to the emergency department all at once.
“I haven’t seen (estimated wait times) at eight hours before. I’ve seen some over six before. That day the numbers actually cleared out fairly quickly after that. But for the patients coming through the door and seeing an eight-hour wait, it’s definitely going to feel like a shock to them,” Sinclair said.
But the actual wait time for care on Oct. 18 was about four hours. Some people are waiting longer than AHS would like, but people with serious medical needs are seen quickly, he said.
“For patients that need to be seen right away by a doctor, we’re able to see them, and we are still absolutely the choice patients should make. Don’t stay away if you have an urgent need that means you need to come to the hospital.”
He said all patients in emergency room beds are emergency room patients waiting to be admitted. The hospital uses beds or chairs in overcapacity spaces when really pressed, and there are early discharge protocols.
“But there is no question that we have some capacity challenges from time to time.”
In anticipation of those who will soon be coming to emergency with flu complications, Sinclair recommended people be immunized against the flu.
“I know that the flu going around this year is purportedly quite significant. In Australia, that gets it four or five months before we do, they had a real serious bout of the flu this year. We are bracing for a potentially more significant year.”
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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