"Overcrowding slows ambulance staff: union"

5 posts / 0 new

Wed, 2009-12-16 14:44

toddsschneider

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/12/15/ambulance-delays-quebec.html

Overcrowding at some hospitals in the Greater Montreal area is preventing ambulance staff from doing their job, says the union representing ambulance workers in the region.

Frank Vamvakidis, a spokesman for the union with the Confederation of National Trade Unions, said Tuesday he spends at least an hour a day waiting in hospital parking lots.

Vamvakadis said he’s heard from colleagues who have spent up to four hours keeping a patient stable while waiting for a spot in the emergency room ...

Wed, 2009-12-16 18:58

Tommy_Paine

This jogs my memory. Either we talked about this here, previously, or it was reported on in the London Free Press, as the same issue has arose here in Ontario.

The triage nurses are using the paramedics as a way to park patients while they await beds to clear elsewhere in the hospital, so they can move emergency room patients out, and make room for who the paramedics are delivering.

I think in certain circumstances, it's probably a creative temporary problem solving technique. However, what starts out as a temporary solution seems to have a way of becoming "the way we do things", or normal operating proceedure. Particularly if it doesn't have a negative affect on someone's budget.

The solution, in my view, is if paramedics are parked with the patient, and are taking care of the patient on behalf of the hospital, thier wages should be paid by the Hospital. And, the hospital and it's officials should be accepting any civil and criminal liabilties if someone else should be harmed because the hospital is using paramedics for something they are not intended to be used for.

This would stop hospitals from using paramedics as a source of free labour, and make them address their own problems instead of making them someone elses.

Thu, 2009-12-17 11:08

Michelle

On White Coat Black Art a couple of weeks ago, I was hearing about how hallways of hospitals are now becoming wards, and that they've even installed curtains in some hospital hallways because patients spend so long out there that it's like their hospital room, and they need privacy because doctors see them there.

Thu, 2009-12-17 20:55

Tommy_Paine

And, it's only going to get worse. Instead of announcing criminal charges today in connection to the E-Health massive theft, The Family Compact of Ontario's Health Minister Deborah Mathews instead told hospitals to brace for zero or one percent increases in the comming year.

Here's a cost saving idea for hospitals: stop participating in the fraud of hiding the pay of top Ontario civil servants.

Thu, 2009-12-17 21:24

Boom Boom

I waited in the hallway of the Sept-Iles emergency ward when I was airlifted out on a medivac in October. Imagine that - a medivac first by helicopter, then air ambulance, then a long wait (from 8 pm to 2 am) before I was seen by a specialist for emergency treatment.