The Globe and Mail’s André Picard explains how the annual "flu surge" reminds him how hospitals have a chronic capacity problem. Fundamentally, he believes, Canada’s health system problem isn’t ER overcrowding - it’s hospital overcrowding. The waits in ERs aren’t due to the inflow of patients, but to a lack of beds for patients who need to be admitted for care. Picard explains that about one in six hospital beds - one in three, in some parts of the country - are occupied by patients requiring alternate level of care who have been discharged but have nowhere to go. Picard believes issues with overcrowded ERs can’t be fixed without looking beyond the ER and making a multitude of systemic improvements, such as supporting primary care to building more long-term care facilities. All of which can ensure that patients who are hospitalized are those who truly need to be in hospital.
Related:
N.B. government dropped ball on preventing overcrowded ERs, advocate says - CBC News
Flu season surging and likely not at peak in Canada, doctors say - CTV News
Relief for overcrowded emergency rooms too little too late, says Quebec nurses federation - CBC News
Cliniques d’hiver: les omnipraticiens du Québec réagissent - ProfessionSanté (abonnement)
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