A 14-hour delay in the emergency room at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital over the weekend sheds light on the persistent staffing problems in Ontario’s health care system.
Blawal Aleem and his wife spent Saturday evening, late into the night, and Sunday morning waiting for her treatment.
They were informed that the wait time was caused by having only one doctor on duty at the hospital.
“Twelve-plus hours is not normal in any circumstance and she shouldn’t have to play the guessing game of when are we going to see the doctor,” said Aleem.
Aleem told City News that he and his wife were directed to the hospital’s ER by their family doctor, arriving around 6 p. m. on Saturday. They thought they would be home by midnight.
“Thirty minutes more, an hour more goes by, and then the hours just start to fly by. I’m coming outside checking on parking, but I don’t know how much to extend the parking by either,” shared Aleem. “And then we’re out of here by 8:30 a. m., which again is very unacceptable.”
While Aleem and his wife endured this long wait, he noted that other patients left without receiving any care whatsoever.
“It was packed, it was very busy and we were told that there’s only one doctor to service the entire hospital. Whether you’re a cancer patient or someone coming in for an emergency, there’s just one doctor,” said Aleem.
Staff shortages in hospitals have been a significant concern for years now.
Emergency rooms across Ontario have even had to temporarily close because there simply weren’t enough doctors available to keep them open.
“I understand that there’s free healthcare. It’s a big blessing to have that and not have to pay out of pocket, but at the same time, it shouldn’t be cruel to the point where we have to sit for 12 hours,” Aleem added.
A spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Health stated that the Ford government has raised healthcare funding by 31 percent, hiring thousands of new nurses and doctors while investing $44 million to address emergency department wait times.
But Aleem believes this investment isn’t sufficient. “You have to do something tangible that helps long-term care homes. It helps hospitals. It helps family doctors so we can ease some of this burden on citizens in Ontario.”
Mc Kenzie Health, which operates Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, informed City News in a statement that they are experiencing very high patient volumes and “wait times can be longer than any of us would like.”
“We’re operating over capacity and many patients are coming to us very sick and requiring admission,” read their statement. “We triage patients to ensure the sickest patients are seen as quickly as possible.”
Their statement also mentioned they have 10 to 11 physicians available each day at the hospital with at least one physician scheduled between 2 a. m. and 7 a. m. at each site who can call additional doctors if necessary.
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