'This shouldn't have happened again': Renewed calls for immediate plan after another N.B. ER waiting room death
New Brunswick’s opposition parties say the provincial government isn’t being open about any immediate plans of reducing ER wait times.
The death of a man waiting for care at The Moncton Hospital last week is renewing calls for action now.
“This shouldn’t have happened again,” said David Coon, leader of the New Brunswick Green Party. “And it did.”
In July, a patient died in the ER waiting room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton.
Neither Premier Blaine Higgs nor Health and Wellness Minister Bruce Fitch were made available for an interview Monday.
The Horizon Health Network said a review of last week’s incident was underway. In a statement last week, Horizon said The Moncton Hospital’s emergency department was at a “critical overcapacity state” when the man died.
Horizon said a review of the Chalmers Hospital incident was finished in early August.
Premier Blaine Higgs committed to publicly releasing findings and recommendations from the Chalmers review in July.
“I do believe the public needs to know exactly how this situation was handled,” said Higgs on July 15. “What demands we were placing on individuals, patients, that were unachievable and how we’re going to change that practice in the future. I expect that sort of clarity and I want to be able to communicate in the same clarity, or minister Fitch will, in relation to what is being done precisely differently.”
Higgs reaffirmed his commitment to making findings from the Chalmers review public last week.
“Let’s look into that and see where that went because if I said we’d release some information on that then I’ll find it,” said Higgs on Tuesday afternoon, only a few hours before the Moncton Hospital incident.
Coon said the delay in review findings being shared was unacceptable.
“It’s time they take the shroud off of these deaths and expose New Brunswickers to what actually has transpired,” said Coon.
In September, CTV News requested information about the number of people who’ve died while waiting in emergency departments across Horizon hospitals. Horizon replied, saying it didn’t differentiate between those who died in a waiting room and those who died after being admitted to the emergency department.
Liberal MLA Robert Gauvin said Higgs’ decision to remove the Health Minister, Horizon CEO, and elected health boards after July’s incident was evidence that any plan would have to come from him.
“It’s not responsible if you decide to blow up the boards, take people out of their jobs, with no idea,” said Gauvin. “So can we have the idea and plan to reduce wait times?”
Dr. Trevor Jain, a Charlottetown-based emergency room physician, said an immediate focus on primary care, long-term care, and mental health could help reduce ER wait times across the country.
“If we could address those three things right off the bat aggressively, even a one to two per cent improvement in the health-care system would help upstream and downstream in the emergency department greatly,” said Jain, in an interview with CTV on Monday.
“I think we have to get away from health-care systems coast-to-coast-to-coast saying that it’s going to take years to fix, or kicking the can down the road. We need some short-term, medium, and long-term solutions now.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Here's where Canadians are living abroad: report
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
What is a 'halal mortgage'? Does it make housing more accessible?
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
'We are declaring our readiness': No decision made yet as Poland declares it's ready to host nuclear weapons
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after return to New York from upstate prison
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Central Alberta queer groups react to request from Red Deer-South to reinstate Jennifer Johnson to UCP caucus
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.
Mookie Betts leads Dodgers past Blue Jays 4-2; Toronto drops fifth consecutive game
Mookie Betts went 3 for 5, including a triple and an RBI single, as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 on Saturday.