ER physicians' letter describes 'crisis' at Surrey Memorial Hospital that's leaving patients suffering
CBC
Dozens of physicians working inside the busiest emergency room in British Columbia have released a scathing letter describing an unrelenting "crisis" at the department, claiming the local health authority has "repeatedly" asked them to keep details of the situation from the public.
The medical professionals at Surrey Memorial Hospital said it's become necessary to speak out in violation of communications protocol because health-care leaders have not been transparent about the dire reality of overcrowding and inadequate staffing in the facility.
More than 35 emergency physicians at the hospital backed the page-long letter that says patients are suffering and, in some cases, dying in hallways as a result of "steadily worsening" problems.
"We have been repeatedly sounding the alarm to our regional and provincial leaders; these alarms have been ignored," read the letter dated Friday and obtained by CBC News.
"Additionally, these conditions have been poorly and incompletely communicated to the public. We feel that patients and the public deserve honesty. Fraser Health has repeatedly told ER physicians to not openly discuss our 'challenges' with the public."
CBC News is withholding the physicians' identities as they fear professional repercussions for releasing the letter.
"It's scary, and we know we're going to get blowback on this. All we want to do is go to work and look after our patients in a reasonable way — and we feel like there's an incomplete truth that's been told," one physician said in an interview.
"When a patient comes into the emergency department, and they see how busy it is, they see patients in hallways and corridors, there's a natural feeling that the emergency department is failing — and, truly, the emergency department is failing," they added.
"But the failure is not because of your frontline emergency physicians, nurses, allied staff ... It's actually the system that's failing your emergency providers, and we don't have the resources to provide safe and appropriate care for all patients."
The letter said three critical issues are contributing to the problem.
First, a lack of acute care beds means patients who have already been admitted are taking up room usually reserved for incoming emergencies.
"This bed-block forces us to routinely treat strokes, heart attacks, traumas, miscarriages and palliative patients in the hallway," the letter read.
Second, the physicians said there are not enough hospitalists to admit patients from the emergency room to other wards, meaning patients linger in the emergency department for days. Doctors said some die while waiting.
Third, the letter said elected leaders have failed to provide any "meaningful solutions" to the problem.
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