Horizon Health displaying ER wait times as pilot project

The writing is now on the wall when it comes to wait times at the Moncton Hospital and Saint John Regional emergency departments.

Horizon Health announced Tuesday it had launched a pilot project at both of those hospitals to display approximate wait times as well as the number of people waiting to be seen.

The health network plans to expand the program "soon" to Fredericton, Miramichi and Waterville.

Interim president and CEO Dr. John Dornan said in a news release that sharing wait-time information would help "improve the patient experience" by setting realistic expectations, reducing wait times and reducing hospital congestion.

"The goal of these displays," Dornan said, "is to encourage the public to consider alternate options for care for non-urgent needs."

The displays divide the number of patients waiting into urgent and less urgent categories, said the health authority.

Urgent means serious conditions that require emergency intervention, such as asthma and frostbite.

Less urgent can mean a patient is in distress, has potential complications and would benefit from intervention. It gave the example of an earache or other mild pain.

Less urgent also includes "non-urgent" or chronic issues, such as skin infections, back pain or ankle injuries.

The system doesn't post wait times for patients in "severe" or "emergent" conditions, such as cardiac arrest, major trauma, or having a potential threat to life or limb because they are given priority as soon as they arrive.

Patients on the lower end of the triage and acuity scale are urged to go elsewhere, said Horizon — to a primary care provider, a pharmacist, an after-hours clinic, virtual care or Tele-Care.

Denyse Hiscock, 56, of Dorchester, said the wait time signs are "a really good idea."

"Knowledge is a very helpful thing," she said.

Hiscock has some chronic health issues and occasionally has to seek medical attention when she has flare ups. 

For a year and a half, when she didn't have a family doctor, she would try calling her local clinic for an appointment first thing in the morning or end up "camping out" in emergency rooms, even for something as basic as a prescription refill.

She has a doctor now, but said it's about a five-week wait for an appointment.

"I tend to call 811 first and if it's something that I could either sort out at the pharmacy or whatever, I won't go to the ER."

Hiscock has had some long waits at the Moncton Hospital emergency room when her daughter was ill.

And she's seen frustrated patients get "really rude" with the intake staff because they were tired of waiting. 

The signs will help remind people they aren't the only one in need of care, she said.

People might also be able to use them to gauge whether they have time to go grab a bite to eat in the middle of a long wait, she added.

If wait times were posted online, said Hiscock, it would save some people a long trip. 

CBC News asked Horizon whether it considered posting wait times online and why that's not part of the pilot. No answers were given by publication time. 

Some other emergency room users are less optimistic that the wait time signs will be much help.

Greg Simpson, 65, of Keswick Ridge, waited about 13 hours in two separate visits to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital emergency department in Fredericton last June, after he fell off the roof of his garden shed and hit his chest on a ladder.

"I think it's sort of a small, Band-Aid solution just to temporarily appease the public," said Simpson. "Whereas, the real issue is lack of personnel and they really need to do something to attract people to this province in the healthcare profession."

After Simpson spoke out about his long wait he got a tip from a neighbour to try the clinic in Minto.

It took over an hour to drive there, but Simpson said it was worth the trip. 

"I was there, got triaged, saw a doctor and got X-rays and was in and out within an hour and a half."

The health minister announced last month that starting in early 2022, the more than 40,000 New Brunswickers who don't have a family doctor or nurse practitioner will be able to call a centralized number to book an appointment when they need one.

The medical society said the appointments will be handled by existing physicians who have time to spare, including some who are semi-retired, salaried and trained to work in emergency rooms.

Simpson is skeptical about whether there are physicians with time to spare to make that work.