More than 2,000 patients treated in 1st year of P.E.I.'s mental health and addictions ER

Prince Edward Island's mental health and addictions emergency department is celebrating its first year of operation this week, though a planned short-stay unit won't open until "a really robust and stable staffing model" is in place.

Launched last February, the specialized ER is in the same building as Queen Elizabeth Hospital's ER in Charlottetown, but is a separate space where people in a mental health or addictions crisis can be treated. It's staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Rebecca Jesseman, executive director of the service, said more than 2,000 patients have used the department in its first year.

"That's an indication of the fact that this is a service that was really needed on the Island," she told CBC's Island Morning. "Those are 2,000 people who are now waiting to be seen and supported outside the emergency department. So it's really helping from the system level."

The facility includes a seven-room assessment area where patients are seen after going through triage in the main ER.

Once they are medically cleared in the regular ER, they are transferred to the mental health and addictions side, where they wait in an assessment room to be seen by psychiatric staff. While waiting, they are supported by a team of specially trained nurses and social workers.

In April of last year, two nurses were assaulted by a patient in the mental health ER. Since then, changes have been made to improve security, Jesseman said. Security guards are now stationed within the unit instead of working from a separate office.

"They're interacting with staff. They're interacting with patients. That provides a better rapport with everybody and allows them to identify situations that might be escalating and to respond much more quickly when needed," she said.

"The focus is always in any situation on non-physical de-escalation."

A planned short-stay unit with four patient rooms and two transition rooms, originally set to open last spring, remains closed, however. 

"We've made the difficult decision to keep that unit closed until we have a really robust and stable staffing model, and that's really for the safety of the patients and of the staff," Jesseman said.

Without the short-stay unit, patients who may need to be admitted as patients are being transferred to the Hillsborough Hospital.

But Jesseman said bed movement challenges at the provincial psychiatric hospital can sometimes cause patients to wait longer in the mental health and addictions ER before transfer.