Omicron wave continues to put a strain on health-care systems in the Maritimes

The COVID-19 Omicron wave continues to put a strain on health-care systems across the Maritimes.

Gary Macleod, a seniors advocate in Nova Scotia, says a lot of people who need access to health care are choosing to avoid emergency rooms due to longer-than-average wait times.

“When they get there, they can wait after 12 hours or longer,” he said.

Bill Mont, 92, knows all too well about the long wait times.

Mont says he visited an emergency department in January when he wasn't feeling well.

"I got there around 11 o'clock and I got out about 11 in the evening," said Mont.

It's a less-than-ideal situation for Mont, who has diabetes that requires him to eat certain foods and take certain medication throughout each day.

"It wasn’t until about 10 o’clock that night that I convinced the nurse that I need something to eat,” Mont said.

Long wait times are not the only thing backing up health-care systems.

In the Halifax area, there is a backlog of 7,800 patients waiting for an MRI, 7,000 waiting for an ultrasound and 8,500 waiting for a CT scan.

Brendan Elliott, a senior advisor for Nova Scotia Health, said in a statement “each patient’s file is assigned a priority level and those patients are triaged through the system based on the level of urgency.”

Nova Scotia's Minister of Health, Michelle Thompson, says COVID-19 cases and community spread have been causing delays for two years. She says hospital staff being sick also continues to be a problem.

"There are about 250 staff out today. We have been higher than that these early days of Omicron," said Thompson. "We continue to address things as they come up on a daily basis.”

Thompson says complex treatments, such as time-sensitive cancer surgerie, are being given high priority.

“We still want people to access to care. We want them to go to the emergency room when they have issues that need to be addressed. We want them to feel confident that care they need will be there for them," said Thompson.