Mary Wilson
Well-known member
PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO
UPDATED 12 MINUTES AGO
CARLY WEEKS
Emergency rooms are stretched beyond capacity, with some forced to close, as a result of problems that include a major shortage of health care staff, a resurgence of viruses and a lack of available beds in hospitals and long-term care.
According to estimates online, the wait to see a doctor at Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency department was nearly nine hours on Thursday morning. It was 4½ hours at Calgary’s Peter Lougheed Centre, and nearly eight hours at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
The Quebec government announced on Thursday that six emergency rooms in the province would be partly closed this summer due to staff shortages. A number of emergency rooms at rural and remote hospitals in B.C. have closed for short periods in recent months, including one that was shuttered at least five times last month.
... Many of these problems are not new. But health professionals say the COVID-19 pandemic inflamed the situation – staff burnout and resignations, more patients lacking a family doctor, fewer available hospital beds – creating crises that can no longer be ignored.
... Public health officials have said new Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 could drive another wave of infections in the coming months, leading to an uptick in hospitalizations, particularly among the unvaccinated and people with waning immunity who may have higher risk factors.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can.../+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links
UPDATED 12 MINUTES AGO
CARLY WEEKS
Emergency rooms are stretched beyond capacity, with some forced to close, as a result of problems that include a major shortage of health care staff, a resurgence of viruses and a lack of available beds in hospitals and long-term care.
According to estimates online, the wait to see a doctor at Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency department was nearly nine hours on Thursday morning. It was 4½ hours at Calgary’s Peter Lougheed Centre, and nearly eight hours at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
The Quebec government announced on Thursday that six emergency rooms in the province would be partly closed this summer due to staff shortages. A number of emergency rooms at rural and remote hospitals in B.C. have closed for short periods in recent months, including one that was shuttered at least five times last month.
... Many of these problems are not new. But health professionals say the COVID-19 pandemic inflamed the situation – staff burnout and resignations, more patients lacking a family doctor, fewer available hospital beds – creating crises that can no longer be ignored.
... Public health officials have said new Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 could drive another wave of infections in the coming months, leading to an uptick in hospitalizations, particularly among the unvaccinated and people with waning immunity who may have higher risk factors.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can.../+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links