Canada’s health care system is in critical condition. Waiting times hit record highs while staffing drops to new lows.
Rylan Haas, a Saskatoon nurse who fell ill while on vacation, says he faced a painful wait at an emergency room in Ottawa.
It’s not the layover Haas expected when he traveled to a music festival in Ottawa over the Canada Day long weekend.
“Wednesday morning I woke up with a lot of stomach pain and that pain migrated down to my lower right quadrant,” Haas told CTV News. “Being a nurse, I suspected my appendix had burst, so I went into the Ottawa General Hospital. I went to the ER after seven hours and after 11 hours of being in the ER I went to the doctor, then my first CT scan after 13 hours.’
Haas says it was another nearly half-day wait for surgery, adding that the time it took to get the care he needed added anxiety to an already stressful experience.
I didn’t feel like my voice was being heard,” says Haas.
The Ottawa hospital said it could not comment on specific patient cases, but in a statement highlighted the staffing difficulties facing hospitals across the country.
“The Ottawa hospital, like other hospitals in Ontario and Canada, is experiencing pressure on emergency department staffing levels due to COVID-related absenteeism, vacations, staff fatigue and burnout,” the statement said.
“The pandemic has taken an incredible toll on healthcare providers over the past two years. Staffing is often a problem during the summer months as healthcare providers take a well-earned and much-needed break – a greater challenge today as EDs face the cumulative effect of back-to-back pandemic years alongside planned holidays. In addition, periodic outbreaks of COVID continue to impact available emergency personnel resources. We will continue to adapt as necessary to meet these staffing challenges and ensure patients receive the care they need.”
A nursing shortage has forced some emergency departments to close. Perth Hospital’s emergency department was closed for more than three weeks, forcing area residents to travel at least 20 minutes to Smiths Falls to receive care. It is expected to reopen on July 24.
“The pandemic has really added fuel to the fire,” said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Nurses Federation. “We were living in conditions of a shortage of nurses before the pandemic. We advised the government that we needed to work on training and recruitment, and then the pandemic hit.
“So many nurses left the system or went by accident because they couldn’t handle the workload. They were ordered to stay at work. They were abused and insulted every day and it wasn’t worth it.”
At a meeting with the premier on July 11, Silas issued a call for action, including helping internationally educated nurses enter the Canadian medical system and retaining current staff.
“We were very happy when they urgently asked Prime Minister Trudeau to convene a first meeting of ministers, rather than another study of an action plan,” says Silas. “We have to stop the bleeding. We cannot let another nurse, another doctor, another personal worker leave the system.”
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