ANGELA MULHOLLAND
CTV News Staff
Sept. 27, 2002 — Canadians know there are plenty of problems in Canada's health care system. But if you want a close-up look at the problems, simply head to your local emergency room. In this CTV exclusive, reporter Avis Favaro found graphic evidence of the chaos in one hospital.
Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga is just one hospital in crisis. Dr. Eric Letovsky works in the emergency room there, and while he loves his job, he hates what he sees there on a daily basis.
On the day our CTV cameras stopped by, five paramedic teams clogged up the ER waiting area, trying to admit sick patients. One woman had a hip fracture, another woman had just suffered a suspected stroke. But there wasn't a stretcher available to put the patients on.
No one was being admitted. A glance at the board of patient names shows a sea of red names -- all the patients waiting for beds upstairs. But most of those patients coming in by ambulance are going to have to wait until another patient can be discharged before they'll be given a bed.
Not only is this emergency room over-capacity, but so are 80 per cent of the hospitals in nearby Toronto. "Basically every hospital from downtown west was not available," says one of the waiting paramedics.
"This is a normal day," says Levotsky. "This is a normal day."
"The provincial and federal governments would like the public to think that everything is good or getting better in the health care system. And it's really just the opposite," he says.
Mississauga is one of the fastest-growing communities in Canada. Money for new beds hasn't matched new needs. The other problem comes when those who are ready to leave hospital have nowhere to go.
Patient Luis Silva has been waiting almost three months to be discharged from Credit Valley Hospital, but he can't get a bed in a long-term care centre. They're all full, too.
"He wants to live life while he still has life to live," says his social worker at the hospital, Elisa Cook.
In fact, there are 18 patients at Credit Valley waiting for beds in nursing homes. They're occupying valuable hospitals beds, even though they'd be just as happy to leave.
"The wait varies from six weeks to two years," says community placement co-ordinator Lynn Murphy.
Meanwhile, down in the emergency ward, there are soon 22 people who need those beds, with nearly half a dozen ambulances waiting alongside. One paramedic explains: "I can't leave this patient unattended. So as long as the patient is on the stretcher, we can't leave."
The situation at Credit Valley is likely only to worsen. It, like many hospitals in Canada, is running a deficit, and must cut $11.5 million from its budget. Dr. Letovsky says he talks to colleagues across the country and they all report the same problems: not enough beds, crowded emergency rooms.
"The emergency department is the canary in the mineshaft of health care... and right now the canary is very sick," Letovsky says.
In two months, Canadians will get a glimpse into the future of health care from former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow. He is expected to put forward a blueprint to reform medicare and the way our hospitals operate.
But most agree it will be months before any of those changes are seen in emergency rooms.
As for that woman with the suspected stroke? She finally got a bed in a hospital -- after waiting in emergency for three days.
With a report from CTV Health Reporter Avis Favaro
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