Adviser reviews ER woes

Nova Scotia needs to refocus its health priorities in order to fix the woes facing emergency departments, the province's health adviser says.

Dr. John Ross released his interim report on Thursday, saying emergency care has become the "safety net" for people who feel they don't have other options.

He said the province needs to focus on primary health care and develop provincewide standards for emergency care, and that simply spending more money isn't the answer.

"I truly believe we can provide improved 24/7 access to emergency services for life and limb threatening problems across the province, but this needs to be decided based on best evidence, respect for communities and a systems approach," he wrote.

Ross also said the province needs to find a better way to use the doctors and nurses it already has.

Ross has been touring the province since last September, when he was named provincial adviser on emergency care and told to look at chronic problems of ER closures in the province's rural communities.

At some rural hospitals, Ross said in his report, the emergency departments have less than one patient visit per night.

Ross was an outspoken doctor in Halifax. As director of the emergency department at the QEII Health Sciences Centre, last year he triggered the first mass casualty alert to deal with overcrowding.

The alert — known as a Code Orange — was intended to be used to signal events such as a major industrial or vehicle accident, and not internal hospital problems.