Hospital capacity issues 'not surprising,' says Health P.E.I. CEO

Pressure on Island hospitals eased a little Wednesday after Health P.E.I. warned Tuesday evening that every hospital in the province was over capacity.

Health P.E.I. didn't provide hard numbers on how often all hospitals have been over capacity. But CEO Michael Gardam said, "It certainly does happen, and it's happening more often now than it would've happened five years ago."

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"The main reason for that is, our system hasn't really grown, but our population has grown by leaps and bounds.

"So, we're trying to do more with either the same, or in some cases, less. So it's not surprising."

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown was the only one in the province Wednesday with all of its beds full.

"We're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.— Dr. Michael Gardam

Islanders like Priscilla Henry are seeing capacity issues play out first-hand. She said she woke up Sunday with excruciating shoulder pain, went to Queen Elizabeth Hospital's ER and had to wait nine hours to see a doctor.

"That is very concerning because there is somebody that's going to be left unseen, and it's not going to be favourable for them," she said.

"I don't know what the solution is or how things are going to get better."

Gardam said the big challenge in times when there are no beds free anywhere in the province is that there's no way to move patients around to free up room where it's needed.

More and more, he said situations like this are making health officials make tough calls.

"We always have options, but none of the options are very good, right? So one thing historically done is we cancel surgeries for the next day, which frees up beds, " said Gardam. "We can try to ask people to come in and work overtime, etc. You all know how well that goes over.

"We're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. We can do things, but every solution has negative consequences."

Gardam said there are a number of issues beyond just the growing population, leading to clogged beds and busy emergency departments right now.

He said the respiratory virus season is just getting underway, there are thousands of Islanders without a family doctor who turn to the ERs instead, and there are many waiting in hospitals to get into long-term care homes.

Gardam said none of these issues are solvable without more staff — not just in emergency departments, but in other areas of hospitals too.

"It's a very complex thing, but it all comes down to: we don't have enough clinical resources to care for the people that need care."