'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
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.