‘Insist they fix it’: health minister on plan for ER wait times

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This article was published 24/04/2022 (879 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Unacceptable” emergency room wait times may be linked to rising COVID-19 cases, but Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon isn’t planning to reimpose public health restrictions — until the experts tell her to do so.

“We continue to look to the leadership of public health… in terms of the measures that need to be taken,” Gordon told reporters Monday at the Manitoba Legislative Building after question period.

“Up until today, there’s been no request for any changes, so I’ll continue to look to the experts in public health for direction on that,” the minister said, adding she last spoke Monday with chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin.

At the same time, Gordon was asked about lengthy waits at city emergency rooms, after Winnipeg Regional Health Authority chief executive officer Mike Nader sent a letter to staff April 22 about “concerning” wait times and rising COVID-19 cases leading to increased hospitalizations and absenteeism.

“In short, our ability to transition admitted patients from our emergency department/urgent care is seriously impacted right now,” says the letter sent to staff one day after the Free Press reported ER doctors’ concerns on the issue.

The main drivers of the problem, the WRHA letter said, include the novel coronavirus continuing to spread “and leading to a higher-than-normal increase in COVID-positive patients in medicine (beds) and creating additional pressure.”

Patients who have avoided seeking care during the pandemic are sicker when they do go to hospital and require more and longer care, according to the memo.

Patients are remaining longer in the ER while awaiting results of a COVID-19 test to ensure they are placed in an area appropriate for their health-care needs and COVID status, it said.

In a Zoom call with reporters late Monday, Nader said COVID-19 may not be the reason patients are hospitalized, but if they have it, “it severely disrupts our work flow.”

It’s posing a “challenge” because they need to be kept in isolation units and staff are required to deal with more personal protective equipment measures.

His letter to staff said absenteeism due to illness is at a historic high, including those with symptoms or confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In efforts to address the problem, the WRHA is changing ambulance transport protocols to divert more lower-acuity patients to urgent care centres when it’s appropriate. It has launched a “pilot project” to test new ER and urgent care arrivals for COVID-19 right away to streamline the process and the flow of patients, and are asking staff for ideas on how to improve the situation.

“There are a number of factors impacting our emergency departments,” Gordon said Monday. “I’m very concerned about the wait times and the number of individuals who are having to wait long periods of time.”

When asked what she intends to do about it, Gordon said she’s given out her marching orders.

“One of the things I’m doing is insist they fix it,” she said. “My expectation as a health minister is that they will address this.

“It’s unacceptable that Manitobans are waiting eight to 10 hours — I’ve heard, from some people, longer than that. We’ve got to fix this and streamline the care.”

Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Kristjan Thompson, an emergency medicine physician at St. Boniface Hospital, said he’s encouraged Nader is “engaging” with hospital staff because it’s the first step to solving a “massive” health-care issue.

It’s the actions that follow that will mean the most, though, Thompson said in a statement.

“Doctors remain willing to collaborate on the many issues in Manitoba’s health-care system, from concerns about ICU capacity to the risks for elderly patients being transported to far-away hospitals, and we hope to see more open communications and invitations to help in the weeks ahead.”

On Monday, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals says system leaders reaching out to staff in troubled times for their ideas is nothing new.

“We’ve heard this a thousand times before: ‘We want to hear from you,’” said president Bob Moroz.

However, their input over the years has been ignored, he added.

Meantime, the health minister telling system leaders to “fix it” without imposing any public health measures or tracking COVID-19 cases indicates the government doesn’t have a strategy to resolve a complex problem, Moroz said.

“We don’t know how many positive cases we have in this province,” he said. “They are turning a blind eye to it. They’re hoping for the best. There’s no plan.”

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said the government isn’t addressing the emergency room staffing shortages in its latest budget — a problem that predates the pandemic and is the result of Progressive Conservative cost cuts.

“The PCs created the crisis in our emergency rooms and now they want us to believe they’re going to fix it,” scoffed Kinew.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca