Health Minister Adrian Dix:
We physicians on the Sunshine Coast wish to draw to your attention the extreme overcrowding of patients at our community hospital in Sechelt. The Sechelt Hospital operates at 130 per cent capacity, the highest occupancy rate of any hospital in the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Authority. On average, 30 to 40 per cent of our hospital’s acute care beds are occupied by elderly patients awaiting placement in a long-term care facility. This is detrimental to the care of these elderly patients and the overcrowding is having a daily impact on our ability to safely provide acute care services to our population.
Three years ago, VCH put out a request for bids for the design and build of a new long-term care facility to replace two outdated facilities and provide an additional 25 new long-term beds. Although as we pointed out at the time this number was well short of our then current and future bed requirements, it was at least a beginning. In June 2016 VCH signed a contract with the well-respected Trellis Group to complete this project.
It has been 20 months since that contract was signed and Trellis has still not received the necessary approval from VCH to proceed with construction of the new facility. Meanwhile, elderly patients are languishing up to three months or longer in acute care hospital beds while awaiting placement. At any given time up to 90 per cent of our emergency room stretchers are occupied and 50 per cent of those by very sick admitted patients who cannot be transferred to an appropriate ward bed. These patients are often being cared for on stretchers for days because acute care beds are being occupied by long-term care patients.
Patients are placed in hallways and cubbyholes or inappropriately doubled up in single-bed rooms. Patients who should be on stretchers are examined and treated in chairs.
This overcrowding severely affects our ability to provide safe care at our hospital and has stretched our nursing and support staff beyond the limits of safety. Unlike urban emergency departments, when ours is at capacity there is no other facility to which ambulances can be diverted. Ours is the only hospital on the Sunshine Coast. Our doors can never be closed.
For the past three years we physicians have been protesting this untenable situation to VCH authorities, local and provincial politicians and local newspapers. Still not a thing has been accomplished to address our LTC bed shortage and relieve the pressure on our hospital.
Mr. Dix, we urge your ministry to intervene at this time and give direction to VCH to act now. There is a signed contract with the Trellis Group to begin addressing our LTC bed shortage which in turn will help address the severe overcrowding at Sechelt Hospital. That contract should be implemented now to ensure an immediate build. Time is of the essence.
Jim Petzold MD
Lead Physician, Residential Care Committee, Sunshine Coast Divisions of Family Practice
Karen E. Forgie
Chair, Sunshine Coast Division of Family Practice
Anthony Barale, MD
President, Medical Staff Association
