Emergency room problems continue to be in the news again … and in
particular, this time around, with Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.
That led me to consider writing my blog comments on the issue. I don’t need to however … plenty is already
being written about it … and has been for years now.
All I had to do was conduct a Google search for “overcrowded bc hospitals” and in 0.34 seconds six hundred and
twenty eight thousand (628,000) items came up … here are just a few
Today’s letters: Hospital
overcrowding nothing new
The situation at the Royal Columbian is not unique to that hospital;
most urban hospitals in Canada are facing the same problems. What is unique is that the New Westminster
Fire Marshall’s office is seemingly the only government agency that is able
to rapidly do what hospital and regional health authority officials seem
incapable of doing; acknowledging a
threat to the public’s health and rapidly solving it …
Doctors at the chronically overcrowded Royal Columbian Hospital have
announced that starting next week, they will no longer be treating
non-emergency patients in the emergency department. On Tuesday morning, 40 of the 42 emergency beds were occupied by non-emergency patients because
regular care rooms were full. The continual lack of beds means doctors have
had to treat emergency patients in hallways, other hospital spaces, and even a
Tim Horton’s once …
