ER doctor shortage prompts concerns over long wait times

A shortage of doctors in Brandon’s emergency department has fuelled complaints from local leaders and residents, with the province’s health minister acknowledging there are challenges at the hospital.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said while the emergency department in Brandon is supposed to have two doctors on call, “fairly often” only one physician is actually on the floor.

“The fact that they only have one on in Brandon hospital is worrying because it is a very busy emergency department,” she said. “Not only just with the city of Brandon, but they have a fairly large catchment area.”

She said having one doctor on duty in the ER means longer wait times.

“I am not surprised there’s been complaints. We know that wait times are getting longer and longer and longer in our ERs,” Jackson said.

“One physician on, managing all the patients, is just not sustainable.”

A woman who went to the Brandon Regional Health Centre with her adult daughter last month said she was “shocked” by how patients were being triaged and how long the wait times were.

Brenda, who declined to give her full name because of her business, said she worked at the hospital for 45 years, 30 of them in the ER.

She said she arrived at BRHC at around 9 p.m. on July 21, and at 2 a.m. was told her daughter likely wouldn’t be seen until the morning.

One of the nurses told her that there were no beds in the ER because there weren’t enough physicians on the floor.

“Our system is crumbling onto itself,” Brenda said.

She said she raised her concerns with the mayor’s office, the regional health authority, the premier’s office and the health minister, but didn’t hear back. She then went to Brandon West MLA Wayne Balcaen, who in turn reached out to the media with the concerns.

Balcaen said he has been approached by several people who work at the hospital and say that conditions aren’t improving.

“Many of the health-care workers are tired, they’re burnt out, they’re exhausted and they’re seeing that things aren’t improving in the system for them,” Balcaen said about the ER.

He said he wants to see staffing raised to proper levels.

“We’ve heard from the (Premier Wab) Kinew government and from (Health Minister Uzoma) Asagwara that they’re hiring all of these staff,” Balcaen said. “But when I talk to any of our professionals here in health care, they’re not seeing it here in Brandon. They’re not seeing the numbers increase and they’re seeing more and more expectations on them.

“I’m concerned that eventually our ER will be shut down or not be able to admit patients or look at people if this continues,” he added.

Jackson said that between 11 and 15 per cent of people don’t have a primary care provider, which means more people need to make trips to the ER, which worsens the situation.

She wants to see a second physician or nurse practitioner available so patients get treated and discharged faster.

Home care and long-term care facilities also need to be improved, so more people are moved out of hospitals, opening up beds and staff resources.

Asagwara on Tuesday said the number of physicians in the department has remained “steady” since February, but that the shortage is an important issue that the province takes “very seriously.”

“This is, I would say, a long-standing challenge, and it’s also a national challenge. We know that there’s a national shortage of ED physicians,” Asagwara told the Sun Tuesday.

They said the province is tackling the problem from “every possible angle,” including offering financial incentives and implementing initiatives for doctors to work in the emergency department.

“That incentive has … helped to stabilize the commitment of baseline hours for doctors in Brandon’s emergency department, and it’s also resulted in an additional 700 (annual) hours being added to the schedule,” Asagwara said.

Regarding the increase in public complaints despite the added hours, Asagwara said, “Two things can be true at the same time.”

“You can be doing the work to address challenges, and there can still be challenges that persist that need to be addressed,” they said.

“The challenge is real, but it means that we have to work very, very hard, and we have to work very consistently at making sure that we’re doing everything we can to address these concerns.”

Having a second physician or nurse practitioner available in the emergency department is a priority, Asagwara said.

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate in a statement last week said the health authority remains focused on physician recruitment and retention across the region.

“There have been some physician staffing changes over the past few months, including some decreases in hospitalist coverage areas at Brandon Regional Health Centre,” Slate said.

The closure of Dauphin’s hospital due to flooding has increased patient volumes in Brandon, she said.

“Together, with Shared Health patient flow teams, we are committed to ensuring people across the region have access (to) consistent, safe and required care as close to home as possible. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our front-line staff for their efforts and supports during this challenging time,” Slate said.

Questions to the health authority about how many ER physicians resigned last month and how wait times have been impacted weren’t answered.

Jackson said the physician shortage is also taxing nurses, as longer wait times turn into a more chaotic emergency department.

“It’s the nurses that are sort of front and centre, and they’re the ones that are hearing the complaints,” Jackson said.

The shortage is also increasing violence, as people’s tempers get shorter as they wait longer, she said.

» alambert@brandonsun.com