Hospitals using portable waiting rooms and tents for overflow patients

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Some hospitals in Metro Vancouver are relying on portable temporary structures to accommodate an overflow of patients as their emergency rooms become overcrowded.

Surrey Memorial Hospital has set up portable equipment as a temporary pediatric emergency waiting area in anticipation of a surge in patients this winter. Mount St. Joseph Hospital in Vancouver has installed a new enclosed space near the emergency room entrance as a temporary addition to the ER.

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This shows health officials are preparing for an influx of patients during this year’s cold and flu season.

During a media briefing on B.C.’s flu season, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said “pediatric emergency department visits are gradually increasing.”

Health Minister Adrian Dix said this year’s cold and flu season could be even worse than last year, when six children died from flu-related illnesses.

“Last year we had a very high number of hospitalizations. This year it’s even higher,” Dix said at a news conference. “We are treating 337 more patients per day than at the same time last year.”

Dix said the addition of an overflow waiting room at Surrey Memorial Hospital is one of 30 measures the province announced to address hospital overcrowding after several doctors raised the alarm about dangerous conditions. He said there is.

“We’re preparing for respiratory season and trying to make things easier for people waiting in the emergency room,” he said.

Martha Cloutier, executive director of Surrey Memorial Hospital, said overflow rooms are used for infants and children because they come to the hospital with one or both of their caregivers and, in some cases, siblings. He said more rooms would be needed. Patients will still come to the emergency room to be triaged, but if the wait is long, they will be directed to a handheld cell phone that is staffed by a nurse and located just outside the front door.

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Cloutier said this is the first time portable equipment has been used at Fraser Health. There are no immediate plans to introduce portable equipment to other hospitals.

The temporary structure is not yet operational and will not be ready until the end of November, Cloutier said.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said it was “sad” and “unfortunate” that Surrey Memorial had resorted to using portable equipment.

Locke said the province has not committed to building another tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital, even though overcrowding at the hospital has become “absolutely intolerable.”

She noted that Surrey’s second hospital, which was funded by the province at a cost of $2.88 billion, would not be able to treat patients until 2030. Construction is expected to be completed by 2029, two years behind schedule.

Locke believes that portable devices will not be a temporary solution, but a de facto overflow solution.

“They said school cell phones were going to be temporary,” Locke said, adding that the Surry School District has seen an influx of cell phones and currently has 375 cell phones to deal with overcrowding. He pointed out that it depends.

“It’s been 30 years and we’re just watching them multiply. So I’m very concerned about that.”

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Eleanor Sturko, BC United MLA for South Surrey, said the temporary waiting rooms are a sign the health-care system is reaching breaking point.

“It’s not just the temporary pediatric wards. Every ward in our hospital is almost at breaking point,” she told reporters in Victoria state on Wednesday. “We’ve heard from doctors that people are being trapped in the hallways. “They’re not providing the care that we think is appropriate for the patients who come in. We had promises from Minister Dix, but Sally Almost nothing has changed on the ground in the state.”

Camille Curry, a medical advocate from Langford, waited nine hours to receive treatment for her immunocompromised teenage son on Thursday, and saw first-hand the overcrowded emergency room at Victoria General Hospital. He said he experienced it.

Curry, the founder of BC Healthcare Matters, which seeks to solve the primary care physician shortage, was unable to see a primary care physician immediately or make an emergency primary care appointment, so he turned to urgent care. He said he asked Muro. The care center has been touted by Dix as a way for people to access primary care.

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“There was standing room only,” she said. “Nurses actually had to come out and tell people who weren’t patients that they couldn’t sit in the chairs.”

Curry said it’s frustrating to see so many patients, like her son, who could have been seen by a doctor in a primary care setting, but were forced to visit the ER because they didn’t have access. Told.

“For us, it’s always very stressful deciding whether to go and sit in an environment like that,” she said. “We don’t want to put additional strain on the system, but we have to make the right choices to protect our children.”

kderosa@postmedia.com

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