Government failures at Dartmouth General cannot be ignored

Last week Code Census was called at both the Dartmouth General Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. Code Census is essentially what we'd previously come to know as a Code Orange, and means the hospitals are over capacity.
As the week went on, things got worse at the Dartmouth General, to the point where there were 20 per cent more patients than beds and discussion was taking place about transferring some patients to Sheet Harbour. We've come to learn in recent days that Code Census has been called on average more than five times per month since January. This is in addition to chronic delays being reported by patients and health professionals in blood collection and other parts of the hospital. As well, Capital Health reports that emergency wait and discharge times at Dartmouth General greatly exceed other hospitals in HRM on a regular basis.
This is not the fault of the doctors, nurses, and technicians working at the Dartmouth General. It is a problem caused by a lack of resources dedicated to this hospital, and a lack of attention paid by the health minister to a problem which has been brewing for some months. It's a situation which makes working conditions more difficult for medical staff and has the real potential of impacting timely access to medical services at the Dartmouth General.
The NDP government has known about this issue since shortly after getting elected and have done nothing to address the situation in the short term. During questioning by me in the legislature, the NDP government's only response has been to blame others and suggest that a plan will come in the next fiscal year. That is not good enough.
While a long-term plan for the Dartmouth General may take a year, patients and staff are facing a critical situation now and a short-term plan must immediately be instituted. Medical staff at the Dartmouth General say the addition of as few as six to eight beds could alleviate many of the pressures in the short-term while we await a long-term strategy. But the NDP health minister is content to blame others. The blame game is not what the NDP said in the election when they promised "ministerial accountability" from day one for emergency room and health care challenges. It's also not appropriate when the NDP has had almost four months to put in place temporary measures to improve the situation.
This is traditionally a slower time of year for emergency rooms. Slip and fall injuries brought on by ice and snow and the peak of flu season, both of which add pressure to emergency rooms, haven't even begun.
If the government does not take quick action, the problem will only worsen as the winter months come upon us. With the QEII hospital facing similar challenges, it's inevitable that we'll see medical professionals at the hospital scrambling to find places a good distance out of the city like Sheet Harbour to transfer patients.
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