Health-care issues stem from cuts, decades of poor planning: emergency medicine expert
Long wait times, closed emergency departments and growing waitlists for family doctors have exposed the pressures facing the health-care system this summer – specifically on emergency medicine.
Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians President Dr. Mike Howlett, who has spent almost three decades working in emergency medicine in Truro, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick, says the situation is as bad as it seems.
And it didn’t happen overnight.
“It is a crisis, make no mistake. It is a serious crisis when you can't staff departments adequately, when you can't get people into hospital, eventually bad things will happen,” he said. “Emergency departments are not the cause of the problem. They're not the sole problem. The crowding is just a symptom of this lack of planning over the last 20 or 30 years.”
He noted that the crisis stems from cuts and poor planning made decades ago --- planning that didn’t consider a growing and aging population, or the possibility of a global pandemic.
“All that ended up happening was, by being more efficient, they took the means to produce good health out of system, such that there were no redundancies left,” he said. “There's no way for parts of the system to cover for each other when there's a crisis.”
The hope now is that governments and health authorities learn from the past and plan better moving forward, something the president of Doctors Nova Scotia, Dr. Leisha Hawker, says is critical.
“We have a lot of senior family doctors in Nova Scotia, many who probably would have wanted to retire five, ten years ago and have continued to work,” she said. “So in the future, we need to do a better job of human resource planning so that we don't get into this crisis again.”
According to the Nova Scotia Health Authority, 105,187 Nova Scotians are on the Need a Family Practice Registry as of Aug. 1 — up from 100,592 on July 1.
It’s an increase of 30,000 people in less than a year. The growing wait-list can be attributed to a range of factors, from population growth to doctors leaving or retiring.
The August report states that 37.6 per cent of people said they wanted to be added to the registry because they were new to an area, and 24.7 per cent reported their provider had moved or closed their practice.
But Hawker says peoples’ health must remain most important.
“Don't delay if you do have a serious health issue because we're also seeing people avoiding the emergency departments, so we also don't want that,” she said.
Howlett says emergency room doctors and nurses want to get back to doing their jobs, the way they were trained to do them.
“It's heartbreaking to treat people in the hallway,” he said. “It's heartbreaking to see them on chairs. It's really tough, and I really would like the public to know that.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What to know about avian influenza in dairy cows and the risk to humans
Why is H5N1, or bird flu, a concern, how does it spread, and is there a vaccine? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about avian influenza.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
opinion The special relationship between King Charles and the Princess of Wales
Royal commentator Afua Hagan writes that when King Charles recently admitted Catherine to the Order of the Companions of Honour, it not only made history, but it reinforced the strong bond between the King and his beloved daughter-in-law.
New Norad commander calls Canada's defence policy update 'very encouraging'
American troops will be spending more time training in the Far North, the new commander of Norad says, a strategy that fits 'hand-in-glove' with Canada's renewed focus on Arctic defence.
$70M Lotto Max winners kept prize a secret from family for 2 months
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Are Canadians getting sick from expired food?
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
Documents reveal Ottawa's efforts to get Loblaw, Walmart on board with grocery code
It was evident to the federal government as early as last fall that Loblaw and Walmart might be holdouts to the grocery code of conduct, jeopardizing the project's success.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.