Patient waits 92 hours to see emergency room physician

The BC Nurses' Union says patient care continues to slip into the danger zone at Surrey Memorial Hospital, with no sign the health authority is taking steps to alleviate the suffering.

BCNU President Debra McPherson says, "Nurses sounded the alarm about the crisis last fall, just after the new ER opened. The health minister promised a review of Fraser Health, yet patients are still suffering, on a daily basis. The review and recommendations are long overdue."

Recent examples at Surrey Memorial Hospital:

• A patient in emergency waited for more than 92 hours to see an ER physician.
• Another patient was not seen by hospitalist for 24 hours.
• A patient in severe pain ran down the hall in a delirium, as nurses were unable to obtain new pain medication orders.

The short staffing and workload problems continue to be an issue not only with the nurses, but also doctors. Nurses are having difficulty obtaining doctors' orders for patients because of a shortage of hospitalists. The result is patients are being held in unsafe and serious "limbo".

McPherson says the government must make safe patient care a priority and that requires safe staffing levels. "Nurses are consistently working short, with impossible workloads. They aren't getting timely doctors' orders because they're also understaffed. How much more do patients have to suffer before this government responds?"

Nurses from Surrey and the Fraser Valley will demand answers from Fraser Health authorities at tomorrow's board meeting.