The Independent MHA for Humber- Bay of Islands has written Health Minister John Hogan with his continued concerns about overcrowding in the emergency department at Western Memorial Regional Hospital.
Eddie Joyce says some patients wait up to 30 hours to see a doctor, and in some cases, they wait on stretchers in hallways and even storage rooms.
Joyce says the situation is exacerbated by a shortage of beds in the facility, with acute care beds being filled by patients waiting to get into long-term care. Joyce has been told the number varies, but between 60 and 70 beds in the hospital are still allocated for long-term care.
The new long-term care facility next to the new Western Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook.
He says the issue was presented to the government nearly a decade ago.
“When we planned the novice part of the planning at the initial part of the new Western Memorial Regional Hospital, we knew that there was going to be a surge in long-term care patients. That was never addressed. Do something now is my answer. And they have options. They have options. The old Western Memorial Regional Hospital is there. It is functional.”
