By Tyler Marr

Emergency department wait times down despite capacity issues

Apr 30, 2017 | 11:00 AM

Ongoing efforts to reduce wait times in the emergency department at the Victoria Hospital for the past number of years have yielded success, according to data presented at the health region’s recent board meeting.

Vice President of Integrated Services Carol Gregoryk explained how funding for an additional physician on evening shifts when the emergency department tends to be at its highest volume, was a key contributor to these reductions.

“That in itself with the [registered nurse] assistance… really made a difference,” she said.

Practice hours in the department have also been extended thanks to a bump in funding from the Ministry of Health.

The department times in terms of physician initial assessment, show a strong recent downward trend when compared to all other Saskatchewan communities combined. Times waited for inpatient beds are even lower, not only significantly below the combined average, but the lowest in the province by far.

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The department has also pulled the number of patients who leave without being seen or against medical advice close to in line with the provincial average at 7.6 per cent, a 16 per cent reduction since 2014-15.

A crucial aspect of this has been addressing the journey of patients through the various departments said Gregoryk.

The hospital routinely operates over 100 per cent capacity which can create patient back logs in the emergency department. 

“We have been there for probably three years at least, if not more,” Gregoryk said. “We have put so many methods in place in order to reduce that …how we move people up from the emergency room or how we go over capacity so that we go over capacity in the emergency room last.”

Working to predict demand capacity and discharge rates have played a part in organizing patients.

But, when the doors of the department never close, the result is continued preasure on capacity.

This reality, accompanied by an 8.4 per cent increase in patients moving through the emergency department in the past two years, only lent further support behind the need for a new hospital in the eyes of Gregoryk.

“We know the budgets are limited this year but it is something P.A. definitely needs,” she said. “It is extremely challenging. We have to have people go home in order to put people in and that is the big challenge for us.”

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr