Dozens of physicians working inside the busiest emergency room in British Columbia have released a scathing letter to alert the public about an unrelenting departmental “crisis,” claiming the local health authority told them not to openly discuss the challenges with the public.
The medical professionals at Surrey Memorial Hospital said Monday it’s become necessary to break communications protocol as health-care leaders have failed to inform patients and residents about the dire reality of overcrowding and inadequate staffing inside the department.
More than 35 physicians at the hospital backed the letter, saying patients are suffering and, in some cases, dying on the edges of hallways inside the emergency department.
“We have been repeatedly sounding the alarm to our regional and provincial leaders; these alarms have been ignored,” read the letter dated Friday and obtained by CBC News.
“Additionally, these conditions have been poorly and incompletely communicated to the public. We feel that patients and the public deserve honesty. Fraser Health has repeatedly told ER physicians to not openly discuss our ‘challenges’ with the public.”
CBC News is withholding the physicians’ identities as they fear professional repercussions for releasing the letter, which has demanded transparency and accountability from elected leaders.
“It’s scary and we know we’re going to get blowback on this. All we want to do is go to work and look after our patients in a reasonable way … and we feel like there’s an incomplete truth that’s been told,” one physician said in an interview.
“When a patient comes into the emergency department and they see how busy it is, they see patients in hallways and corridors, there’s a natural feeling that the emergency department is failing — and, truly, the emergency department is failing,” they added.
“But the failure is not because of your frontline emergency physicians, nurses, allied staff … It’s actually the system that’s failing your emergency providers and we don’t have the resources to provide safe and appropriate care for all patients.”
Reporters have contacted the B.C. Ministry of Health and the local health authority, Fraser Health, for comment.
More to come.
More Stories
Fair share: the right office solution can take finding the right partner
Ontario faces crew shortages, aircraft issues in fight against wildfires | Globalnews.ca
Refugee attends open house at Downtown Eastside affordable housing facility – BC | Globalnews.ca