P.E.I.'s entire health-care system over capacity, hospitals facing increased wait times
CBC
Hospitals across P.E.I. are over capacity, leading to hours-long wait times in the province's emergency rooms and limited bed availability, Health P.E.I. said in a news release Thursday afternoon.
Medical director of hospital services and patient flow Dr. Ken Farion said emergency departments across the Island — including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown, Prince County Hospital in Summerside, Kings County Memorial Hospital in Montague and Western Hospital in Alberton — are all feeling the strain.
He said the QEH alone admitted more than 260 patients as of Thursday morning.
"In terms of sheer occupancy numbers, this morning we were at the highest number that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has really ever had admitted," Farion said.
"That's a bit of a milestone, not necessarily one we are proud of."
He said the situation has been been complicated because all of the province's ERs have more admitted patients stuck waiting for beds than usual.
Farion said the QEH emergency department can take up to 30 patients — though staff try to keep it to no more than 24 — and has reached capacity several times in the past week.
"We have a relatively fixed number of staff, we have a relatively fixed number of beds and spaces that are considered hospital rooms, and we are now exceeding that."
Farion said those with lower-priority problems have been waiting "many, many, many hours to be seen," exceeding 12 to 14 hours in some cases, especially overnight when only one doctor is working.
"We're quite worried," he said, adding that officials have been meeting daily over the last week to try to tackle the problem.
Health P.E.I. has established an emergency response it's calling a Hospital Overcapacity Command Table to try to improve patient flow.
The measures include:
Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser said in Thursday's news release that the measures aim to help Islanders receive the highest level of care possible.
"Health PEI is fully committed to providing excellent care, even under these challenging circumstances," she said in the release.
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