Changes coming to P.E.I. mental health ER after busy opening weeks

It’s only been open for three weeks, but a new facility in Prince Edward Island has seen plenty of use.

The first dedicated mental health ER in Atlantic Canada has been open 24 hours a day since Feb. 27 at Charlottetown’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

In the first two weeks, so many patients arrived needing care many were left in the regular ER’s waiting room.

“I think what was unexpected was just the number of patients and the level of acuity that we were seeing,” said Rebecca Jesseman, executive director of mental health and addictions for Health PEI. “We’ve been monitoring those trends for a while now, and it was one of the highest weeks we’ve seen over the past year.”

Officials say that spike in demand, coupled with the normal challenges of opening a new unit, pushed up wait times.

“We were catching the tail end of that,” said Jesseman. “The number of people presenting over the last week or so has returned to more of a normal level."

She said it's also important to keep in mind the regular ER was experiencing heavy patient volumes over the same time.

The average wait time was about a four-and-a-half hours last weekend, in line with what they’re expecting.

The new unit has seven assessment rooms, but no dedicated waiting area for itself, instead sharing the regular ER’s. That might now change, with a plan for a sitting area for family to become a patient waiting room.

“So that we can move people who are maybe, you know, lower risk, lower need in a more quiet and suitable space,” said Jesseman. “While they’re waiting to be seen.”

She said, despite the rocky start, they’re pleased with how the ER is operating now.

They do not want people to stop coming. Jessman said that was the point of opening the service and they’ve already made improvements and shortened wait times.

The second phase — a four-bed, 72-hour short stay unit — is slated to open sometime in the spring.

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