Unclogging Alberta’s emergency wards
Pilot project aimed at rapid response times
Patient wait times in emergency wards should be much shorter with new rapid-response units opening at two city hospitals, says Vickie Kaminski, CEO of Alberta Health Services.
The trial project, with up to 15 beds in units at the Royal Alexandra and University of Alberta hospitals, is the second major initiative this week by the province to unclog busy emergency departments.
This pilot project is also designed to get ambulances back on city streets faster, as paramedics won’t be waiting at emergency wards for their patients to be admitted, said Kaminski.
With Alberta hospitals operating over capacity, the Alberta Medical Association has been warning for months about overcrowded emergency wards and waits up to seven hours.
Kaminski, who made the announcement with Health Minister Stephen Mandel, said patients should not wait more than four hours for emergency care. “We can’t allow these challenges to downgrade the timely access to care,” said Kaminski.
Mandel praised Kaminski for working co-operatively with the government on finding a solution.
“This is a great step,” said Mandel, noting long waits are “very frustrating.”
On Monday, the province announced it would open 450 new continuing care beds for seniors over the next 12 months to free up more hospital beds for acute care and emergency patients.
If the pilot project works, it will be rolled out across the province.
Ambulances should return to service within an hour, said Kaminski. Currently, ambulances can be delayed for up to three hours waiting for patients to find a bed — and the wait can be much longer on a bad night.
“This is about supporting front-line staff so they can do their jobs,” she added.
AHS wants to eliminate entirely “red alert” situations when no ambulances are available, mainly because they are waiting too long for patients to get a bed.
AHS statistics show the average number of minutes the city was in a “red alert” situation was 95 per month in 2013. The monthly average for 2014 so far is 107 minutes.
Under the pilot project, which starts in the next six weeks, emergency patients will be moved to the rapid response unit as soon as they are diagnosed as needing to stay in hospital, rather than waiting for a bed to open on a regular ward.
That will free up more stretchers in emergency wards so paramedics can deliver their patients faster.
Also, emergency patients deemed not to need hospital care and awaiting discharge will also be sent to the rapid response unit, said Kaminski.
The cost of opening the new beds is $2.1 million. Kaminski said she found money in the current budget.
But the problem of overcrowded emergency rooms won’t be solved until the primary care system can provide a doctor for each family and can take a load off emergency wards, said Mandel, adding it takes a “long-term commitment” to fix the system.
Dr. Paul Parks, emergency medicine spokesman for the Alberta Medical Association, says that overcrowded hospitals have placed the province’s health system on the verge of “catastrophic collapse” and that one more stressor could push it “over the edge.”