Joey Salmingo and his son Justus, who was born three weeks earlier, went to the emergency room at Stouffville Hospital in Markham, a suburb of Toronto, on December 30. The baby suffered from a high fever. Just five hours later, a doctor conducted the baby's first exam, Mr. Salmingo said.
It took an hour to see a nurse in medical triage, he said. That's what worries me the most about all of this. […] my son [a tout juste trois semaines]. […] I don't think anyone in the emergency room knew there was a newborn waiting there. [au triage médical].
[Premier arrivé, premier servi]take a number, like at the butcher.
Four hours after triage, a doctor examined the baby. And three hours later – eight hours in total – we found a room upstairs for Justus.
The baby ended up in the hospital for almost three days, explains his father, who says that his son has now recovered and is resting at home.
While Mr. Salmingo's experience had a happy ending, the fact remains that the situation in the province's emergency rooms is a huge source of stress for patients and health workers alike, experts say.
Unacceptable, says emergency doctor
According to Health Quality Ontario, the average emergency department wait time across the province is 2.1 hours from a person's presentation to the emergency department to their first medical evaluation.
According to this agency, figures from October 2023 show that patients who required hospitalization spent an average of almost 22 hours in the emergency room before getting a bed in a room. Only 23% of patients were transferred from the emergency department to an inpatient room within the provincial target time of eight hours.
Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency room doctor who works at three different hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area, says Salmingo's situation defies all notions of acceptance of medical care in Canada.
He said a newborn with a fever could have sepsis – a serious infection in which the immune system reacts extremely to a pathogen – and should be seen by a doctor within 15 to 30 minutes.
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Dr. Raghu Venugopal says a feverish newborn needs to be examined quickly.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Susan Goodspeed/CBC News
Dr. Venugopal feels sorry for emergency room staff: He says medical professionals experience enormous stress when they put patients' health at risk. He added that the situation in the province has been deteriorating for some time.
According to him, the lack of available hospital beds, systemic staffing shortages, the increase in risky behavior among Ontario's population and the shortage of emergency physicians are putting pressure on an already strained system.
“As a country, we are failing children, women, the elderly and patients in general,” says Dr. Venugopal.
Employees on the verge of burnout
In a recent Nanos survey of 774 hospital workers – including licensed practical nurses, technologists and clerical staff – conducted by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), the vast majority of respondents said they do not believe the government will make improvements in health care in the coming year.
Nearly 70% of workers surveyed in Ontario say there are not enough staff to provide quality patient care, says Sharon Richer, secretary-treasurer of the CSHO.
According to CSHO, workers are at risk of occupational burnout. More than six in 10 people said they were exhausted, while two in five said they were anxious about work and were considering quitting their job.
The union is asking the provincial government for a cash injection into the health system to stem the staffing crisis. He wants the province to invest $1.25 billion annually over the next four years and base that investment on the rate of inflation.
A spokesperson for Ontario's health minister said the province's nurses are among the highest paid in Canada and that an additional 15,000 nurses will be added in 2023.
Dr. Venugopal says the province needs to significantly increase hospital capacity and better support work, adding it could also look to expand virtual care and fund non-profit beds in the community.
We need to make the work environment and healthcare more attractive and pleasant for people who struggle every day.
For his part, Mr. Salmingo is concerned that emergency room wait times are becoming normalized in the minds of Ontarians. It's ordinary. I told a friend about my experience, who replied, “Oh, eight o’clock.” [au total]? It's not bad, it's you [chanceux]!”
With information from CBC