Spike in ER visits, admissions and staff stretched 'thin' mean long waits and delayed surgeries

Health P.E.I. says a recent spike in ER visits and hospital admissions has prompted some surgeries to be postponed to free up beds and staff. Now, the agency has created a special team to closely monitor demand, hospital capacity and staffing.

"Sometimes it's doing procedures that don't require admission as a priority, versus some that do require an admission," said Corinne Rowswell, chief operating officer for Health P.E.I. "Anything we can that will either provide us with staff or beds based on the situation of the day is what we try to do.

"We don't take that lightly, because it does contribute to patients who have been on waiting lists, are getting ready for a procedure, and don't have the ability to do that," Rowswell said. "But we're like the rest of the country — you have to respond to the situation in front of you."

Rowswell said that's where the new monitoring team comes into play.

"We are looking at how we cohort — are we ensuring that the right staff are looking after the right patients, that sort of thing," she said. 

While health-care administrators say they're working to solve these problems, Islanders are feeling the impacts. 

Selena Ellis of Hunter River waited in the emergency room of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for 10 hours on Sunday night. She was with her eight-year-old daughter who'd had a sudden seizure and fallen, hitting her head.

"It was very surprising that we waited that long," Ellis said. "It gets very wearing on someone. As a parent, it's really hard to see your child go through that, and not be able to give them any answers, and tell them when they'll be able to go to their bed and sleep."

Rowswell shares that frustration, but said the wave of respiratory illnesses over the last few weeks have sent an influx of Islanders to the hospital.

"They are overwhelmed right now," she said. "They've got staffing issues, limited capacity in the hospital for beds."

Medical professionals working on the emergency room floor are seeing the same issues, and say it's causing burnout.

"You can only stretch your resources so thin," said Barbara Brookins, president of the P.E.I. Nurses' Union. "We have staff that are leaving every day and choosing other career options because they just can't get their leave."

According to Health P.E.I., the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has faced capacity issues on all but a few days over the past month.

And since Nov. 1, there have been 26 over-capacity situation calls, Rowswell said.

Rowswell said that unlike in some provinces, there is still capacity in the Island's two pediatric units.

"We do have some ability to flex up," she said. "And our pediatric team are monitoring that and are putting plans in place in the event that that happens, but so far so good."

Rowswell is hopeful that the new staff monitoring team will help alleviate some of the pressures on the system. Brookins feels the same way, but isn't as optimistic.

"We need stabilization of our workforce. We need stabilization of our schedule, our work schedules. There's work being done," she said. "But everybody is already going above and beyond. So I'm not sure at what point we can no longer fill the holes and provide the same services that we have been providing."