Some Red Deer residents believe the over-burdened emergency department at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre would benefit if walk-in clinics had extended hours and services.
Red Deer has about 17 medical and walk-in clinics with varying hours open from around 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the latest.
Most clinics have shorter weekend hours, according to the Red Deer Primary Care Network website.
Red Deer resident Brandi Kind has spent more time in the emergency department at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in 2017 than she would’ve liked.
Her most recent visit was in December when she was taking her son, Jacob, to the emergency. Her previous visits were in April 2017 when she had to take her son into the emergency. The longest period she has spent in the emergency department was going in every eight hours for 11 days straight, back in April.
During her visits, she noticed, many patients coming through the emergency department who could’ve used the services at the walk-in clinics instead.
“It seems like there are a lot of people there who didn’t need to be,” she said. “So they are waiting.”
She wants people to understand the emergency department doesn’t work on first come first serve basis but rather on urgency basis.
“I think a lot of the lashing out is coming from people who shouldn’t be sitting there,” she said.
Her visits were both during day and nighttime and she noticed the emergency department was busier in the evenings after 6 or 7 p.m.
“I do think walk-in clinics should be open longer or at least one or two that are open after dinner hours, so that people have an option to go somewhere else,” she said.
Dr. Gary Davidson, chief of emergency medicine for Central Zone, said he welcomes the idea of a 24 hour walk-in clinic or clinics with extended hours. But he doesn’t believe that would reduce the wait times at the emergency department.
Davidson said, even if clinics were open later at nights, he expects patients to come to the emergency department because the hospital is able to provide extensive services like x-rays, which clinics do not offer.
He said instead consider the root of the issue at the hospital – lack of beds and rooms – which leads to long wait times in the emergency room.
He said a lot of time patients in the ER complain about wait times and he has to explain to them there is nowhere for patients to be seen.
Davidson said even if the clinics were to stay open later at night, the ambulances would bring those patients who couldn’t see a doctor from the clinics to the emergency department when the clinics close.
Robyn Restall, a Red Deer resident, visits the hospital once every three months for peritoneal dialysis. Her appointments are scheduled ahead of time and she speaks highly of the services provided by the doctors and the nurses at the hospital.
But in 2015 she had to check into the emergency department when a connector piece to her tube had come disconnected. She said it wasn’t an emergency situation and she spent close to seven hours waiting in the emergency room.
“It wasn’t urgent, like I wasn’t dying, but I couldn’t go to a walk-in clinic because they wouldn’t have the supply [of dialysis fluid],” she said. “The hospital had it and I needed to make sure I didn’t get an infection and get my tube fixed.”
She said if the walk-in clinics offered extensive services like dialysis fluid in this case, she could have gone to a walk-in clinic instead.
“Then it takes away from the emergent unit where they can just treat the emergent patients. While people who just need help can go to the clinic, I think that would help the emergency room greatly.”
Allan Sinclair, senior operating officer for central and southern part of central zone with AHS said no one gets turned away from the emergency department at the hospital.
He said the number of patients coming through emergency department are just under 5,000 a month or about 180 a day.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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