'Difficult situation': Royal Columbian Hospital ejecting patients ahead of tech upgrade
CTV
The largest hospital in the Fraser Health authority has begun sending home patients and will soon turn away non-urgent patients transported by ambulance as it prepares for a challenging technology upgrade.
The largest hospital in the Fraser Health authority has begun sending home patients and will soon turn away non-urgent patients transported by ambulance as it prepares for a challenging technology upgrade.
In an internal memo dated Aug. 22 and obtained by CTV News, the Vice President, Regional Hospital and Health Services told emergency department employees that the upgrade to Meditech Expanse from the current paper-based system requires “collective effort and support” across the region, as well as fewer patients at Royal Columbian Hospital.
“Decanting will begin Aug. 24, 2024, and continue to approximately Sept. 21, 2024,” wrote Laurie Leith, using a government euphemism for ejecting patients from hospital. “This decanting process is crucial, as it will provide RCH staff and medical staff a necessary reduction in capacity to support adapting to the new MediTech Expanse system and workflows.”
In addition, some stroke and cardiac patients will be taken to hospitals in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, while ambulances with non-urgent patients will see “formal diversion during go live Sept. 5-9th,” including for medevac patients who will be sent to Vancouver General Hospital.
The upgrade to fully digital health records was supposed to happen in April, but sources tell CTV News several doctors and nurses raised safety concerns, insisting patient care would be compromised by a rushed rollout. The new launch date is Sept. 7 at 5 a.m.
“We're caught in this weird space where we recognize that electronic health records are important for the future of the health-care system, but this rollout is coming at a very difficult time for the healthcare system,” said Dr. Ahmer Karimuddin, president of the Doctors of BC, referencing emergency department service disruptions in Fraser Health. “We're going to have some degree of slowdown no matter what we do.”
