Quinte Health Care emergency departments continue to experience considerable staffing shortages and an extreme increase in the number of patients at all four hospitals, however, closing any of their four emergency departments is not on the table right now.
That according to Vice President of People and Strategy Susan Rowe.
The staffing shortages are significantly impacting emergency department wait times, particularly for those with non-emergency health issues.
Still, Rowe says they are asking people requiring care to consider other options if possible.
“We want the public to just understand that, if you need the emergency department, absolutely you should come. If there are other options available to you such as Telehealth, your local pharmacy, a walk-in clinic or your family physician to consider using those for all of your less urgent health care needs.”
Rowe says officials also understand that many people do not have access to any of those options and have to go the emergency department for care.
She asks anyone who does go to the emergency department with a non-urgent issue to be prepared for a longer wait and to have patience.
Patients are cared for in the Emergency Department based on how sick or injured they are, not when they arrived so the wait time varies depending on how serious the conditions are of other patients coming to the emergency room.
Rowe says there are no plans to close any emergency departments like some other hospitals across the province have been forced to do.
“It would absolutely be a last case resort for any of our emergency departments to close because of the impact that that can have on the community, and the only reason that we would get to that point is if we simply could not provide safe patient care based on the staff or physicians who were available to work.”
Rowe says patients waiting for a hospital bed are up 40% over a couple of years ago and emergency department visits have increase 20%.
Quinte Health Care has issued an infographic (see above) to determine if the emergency department is the correct place to seek care.
For more information related to QHC Emergency Departments, please visit: https://www.qhc.on.ca/emergency-department-c68.php .
