51 consecutive nights<\/a> of reduced hours at Mission Memorial Hospital\u2019s emergency department.<\/p>\nBoard members provided updates on staffing, finances, and quality of care for the broader Fraser Health region before Mission Memorial Hospital interim executive director Trena Caning, site medical director Dr. Paul Theron, and medical health officer Dr. Rahul Walia presented about healthcare in Mission.<\/p>\n
Approximately a dozen people had an opportunity to share feedback and ask questions after the presentation.<\/p>\n
Maternity ward, staffing among public questions<\/p>\n
Terry Wilkinson asked about the potential for a maternity ward in Mission in the future.<\/p>\n
Theron said that the province is experiencing staffing challenges with obstetricians and some departments have implemented temporary maternity closures.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t go so far as to say that it\u2019s impossible that it could ever happen again, but \u2026 from a budget and planning perspective, I think we have to be \u2026 realistic with short term expectations. That where we have to put our dollars right now is to stabilize services that are really challenged to provide the foundational care. And expansion comes later,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n
Candace Koch asked if Fraser Health has assessed the impact of recent budget cuts on smaller sites like Mission compared to larger ones like Abbotsford.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that Mission Memorial Hospital has lost all care aides in the ER department, key site coordination support and multiple temporary LPN positions, what specific steps are you taking to address the resulting impacts on patient care?\u201d Koch asked.<\/p>\n
Fraser Health president and CEO Dermot Kelly replied: \u201cI don\u2019t think it is a secret to anybody that as a province and as a health system and as a health authority, we are facing financial pressures. And there are difficult decisions that need to be made in order to maintain service and delivery to the best of our capabilities \u2013 to provide that care and service and the best possible experience to the people that we have the responsibility of serving. But it\u2019s extremely important that we hear back what the impact of those decisions are, and are there opportunities for us to be able to learn from some of those decisions and perhaps modify or change some of those \u2026 in time. But we do not unilaterally look at a particular site or service area or facility. We do take an approach across the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another question asked about a lack of relief nurses and float nurses at Mission Memorial. Fraser Health human resources vice president Ken Casorso acknowledged there\u2019s \u201cwork to do\u201d but a rollout of relief nurses is on the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to have more stable and regular relief, and that is on our work plan, and some of those units will be going live in the coming months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Leslie Dycke, one of the residents who spoke, said there are a number of problems with the system, but a number of solutions as well.<\/p>\n
He said the majority of problems are system issues \u2014 not people \u2014 and added that optimizing the whole system and measuring what actually matters is a path forward. Dycke listed a range of problems and solutions and received positive feedback from the board.<\/p>\n
Board member Harinder Singh Sadhra said \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure that everybody on this side of the table is clapping inside while you were speaking the entire time, because those are actually the conversations we\u2019re having all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waterfront rally to keep E.R. open<\/p>\n
Mission residents also gathered at a rally on the waterfront organized by H.S. Kenny Braich prior to the board meeting. Attendees signed Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper\u2019s petition to the province to keep the Mission emergency room open.<\/p>\n
Mission Self Advocacy Group Jean-Pierre Maher was among those who attended the rally and signed the petition. He said the reduced hours impacts members of the group, many of whom have disabilities and\/or rely on public transit.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransit buses would not be running later at night. So (if) somebody had a medical emergency at 11 p.m. \u2013 how would they get to the Abbotsford Regional Hospital? Or how would they get to Maple Ridge if they did not have a ride? So this is unacceptable. Any member of the government that hears this, may you please do your best to fix this immediately, please,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n
Theron said if someone comes to the hospital and has an urgent need that has to be addressed right away, the hospital can call an ambulance at no charge to the patient.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily that we want to say we can transport any patient anywhere at any time, but we have funding and resources to be able to provide taxis and transport services to patients to either take them home if they came to the hospital if they don\u2019t have their own transport (or) we have the ability for some patients that don\u2019t need to be admitted, but need recurring services at the hospital to book transport for them on a pre-planned basis. So there are resources available. I don\u2019t want patients to feel that \u2018If I can\u2019t afford to come to the hospital, I might have to forego my medical need.\u2019 Come to the hospital and we\u2019ll handle it at that point and do it in the most patient-centric way possible,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n
More residents voiced concerns at the public board meeting.<\/p>\n
Tammy Sampson, PAC chair at Heritage Park Middle School and PAC secretary at Mission Secondary School, said emergency department coverage is important for the youth of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cMission Hospital needs to be able to cover and protect the students and the kids involved in community sports with at minimum basic health care \u2013 things like ultrasounds and X-rays and being able to repair broken bones. I understand some more heavily-needed healthcare has to go to Abbotsford or Maple Ridge, but Mission needs to be open 24\/7 to cover all of that basic health care,\u201d Sampson said.<\/p>\n
She said on a recent trip to the emergency department for her daughter\u2019s ankle injury, she saw a lot of people turned away at the door at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was heartbreaking. I followed up with one family \u2013 they were in Abbotsford Hospital for 12 hours and turned and left in the middle of the night and returned to Mission on Monday morning. And it was sad that their child had to wait over the weekend to receive healthcare that they should have received right away,\u201d Sampson said.<\/p>\n
Fraser Health\u2019s approach to reduced emergency hours, staffing challenges<\/p>\n
During a presentation about healthcare in Mission, Theron said nearby hospitals haven\u2019t seen a meaningful statistical increase in patients while Mission\u2019s emergency department experiences reduced hours.<\/p>\n
He said during the service adaptations, the Mission E.R. sees an average of approximately 10 patients during overnight hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of these patients are redirected to either a family physician or (Urgent and Primary Care Clinic) or another point of care the same or the next day. A small number of those patients do end up being diverted to Abbotsford, predominantly, but Ridge Meadows (is) supporting us as well,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n
Emergency-trained nurses remain on sight after 5 p.m. during the service interruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to remind everyone one more time that although the emergency department might not be open to see physicians for patients after certain points in time, we\u2019re never closed. We have nurses on site around the clock that are always there to triage any patient that might present to the hospital,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n
Canning said the $18 million renovation of the emergency department<\/a> expected to finish by spring of next year will increase its capacity by 35 per cent.<\/p>\nPrior to the flood, Theron said the emergency department would see approximately 85 patients per day. In the temporary space which has about a third of the previous space, he said that number has dropped slightly to roughly 75 per day.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s more than the 40 patients per day when Theron joined Mission in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis growth doesn\u2019t come without growing pains. As we expand services and look to expand emergency services, inpatient quality of care \u2014 we obviously see some of the gaps springing up. And this is not unique to Mission. We\u2019re at a unique crossroads in terms of the flooding that we had in our emergency department. I think most of the public is aware of that \u2026 and we can see our challenges starting after that, where physicians choose to work in other departments,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n
He said family physicians are the backbone of healthcare in Mission and the Mission Division of Family Practice is a cornerstone of recruitment to the community.<\/p>\n
While recruitment efforts have borne fruit, Theron said turnover also has an impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as we can recruit in, we do have physicians that will leave the department to either retire or work in other clinical programs within the hospital or in the community, and sometimes leave the community. So that does lead to the gaps in staffing stability, which we\u2019re working very hard to circumvent,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n
In her first public meeting as Fraser Health board chair, Cindy Oliver addressed the ongoing service adaptations at the Mission emergency department. She said construction on the expansion is being expedited to support the community as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know this is a significant concern for the community. Reliable access to emergency care matters deeply for the Mission community. When the emergency department operates with limited hours, it has a real impact on patients, families and care teams. This is not the standard we want for Mission,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n
Theron said there\u2019s a \u201creasonable expectation\u201d that staffing will improve when the doors to a new emergency department open.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have to see when that comes. This is still on the background of a provincial challenge with staffing \u2026 so opening a new department doesn\u2019t automatically mean stable service, but it does give us a meaningful tool in terms of recruitment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Theron was surprised at how many people from the community came out to Wednesday\u2019s meeting and was sad for the people that didn\u2019t have a chance to ask their question.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main takeaway for me is community advocacy reaps dividends. The advocacy that we\u2019ve seen \u2013 in terms of opening UPCC, bringing a CT scanner to the hospital, around the ED expansion \u2013 that\u2019s where we got commitment from the government (and) got funding for it. So I don\u2019t want people to feel disconnected because services are challenged right now. This is really the point where we want to see people lean in, really advocate, really ask difficult questions of the government,\u201d Theron said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mission residents had the chance to ask questions and share comments with Fraser Health leadership at the health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-622195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}