Walk into any emergency department and it’s easy to see just how busy it is — people checking in, sometimes sitting for hours, while others wait in the hall or on one of the few beds available.
A new survey of ER doctors outlines how dire the situation has become.
Seventy-four per cent of 288 emergency doctors surveyed by the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) in the province said there’s a major problem, with 77 reporting “severe” overcrowding in their departments and 135 calling the issue ‘critical.’
OMA president Dr. Rebecca Hicks said three-quarters of respondents routinely witness patients “who are kind of stuck waiting for their beds.”
Hicks says the issue is two-fold.
“How can we … ensure that patients are not attending the emergency department if they don’t need to be?” she said. “And also … how do we ensure that people who need to be admitted or need to be discharged from the hospital can be done in a timely manner.”
When it comes to public perception on the issue, the survey found just 30 per cent of Ontarians feel confident that they would receive timely ER care if they needed it today.
Sixty-seven per cent, on the other hand, say they would not be confident.
Liberal MPP Adil Shamji said the issue is almost unprecedented across Ontario.
“We’re seeing something that is that has almost never been seen before in our province’s history, which is hospitals across Ontario reporting deficits.”
In a statement to CityNews, Lily Barnes, a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, outlined the government’s spending commitments on health care.
“This year alone, we are investing over $101 billion in our health-care system, including a four per cent increase to the hospital sector for the third year in a row, bringing our total investment increase to hospitals to over 50 per cent since 2018,” Barnes said.
She adds that the province’s Primary Care Action Plan is expanding the scope of practice for health-care professionals, allowing them to treat more conditions outside the emergency department.
When asked specifically how often overcrowding affects their ability to provide “timely care” more than half of the ER doctors surveyed in the last year said “almost every shift.”
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